ONYENTION 


OF  THE 


of  the  ©ittj  of  Ucxvr  ^Jovli 


flCADEJVlY  OF  fQEDlCI^E 

17  &  19  West  43d  St.  near  Fifth  Ave. 


r 


?Ex  ICtbrts 


SEYMOUR  DURST 


When  you  leave,  please  leave  this  hook 

Because  it  has  heen  said 
" Sver'thing  comes  t'  him  who  waits 

Except  a  loaned  hook." 


Avery  Architectural  and  Fine  Arts  Library 
Gift  of  Si  ymour  B.  Durst  Old  York  Library 


V 


/  OF  THE 

LADIES  HEALTH  PROTECTIVE  ASSOCIATION 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2014 


http://archive.org/details/firstconventionoOOIadi 


3 


ORDER  OF  EXERCISES 


Afternoon  Session,  at  2.30  o'clock. 
Address  of  Welcome  by  the  President,  Mrs.  M.  E.  Trautmann. 
Reading  of  Five  Minute  papers  by  the  delegates  of  the  various  Cities. 


Address  by  the  Presiding  Officer,  Hon.  Wm.  L.  Strong,  Mayor  of  the 

City  of  New  York. 

Summary  of  the  work  of  the  Ladies  Health  Protective  Association 
during  the  past  twelve  years,  by  its  President, 
Mrs.  M.  E.  Trautmann. 

Reading  of  Five-Minute  papers  on  the  following  subjects  : 

Stable  Refuse. 

Written  by  Mrs.  Cc  Fendler,  Chairman.  Read  by  Dr.  Harriet  C.  Keatinge. 

Slaughter  Houses. 

Written  by  Mrs.  S.  Baum,  Chairman.    Read  by  Mrs.  Clara  M.  Williams. 

Gas  Houses. 

Written  by  Mrs.  J.  N.  Connor,  Chairman.  Read  by  Mrs.  Mercedes  Legh. 

School  Hygiene. 

Written  by  Mrs.  C.  A.  Errani,  Chairman  of  the  Northern  and 
Western  Division. 
Mrs.  J.  M.  Fiske,  Chairman  of  the  Southern  and  Eastern  Division. 
Read  by  Mrs.  G.  H.  Rosenfeld. 


Evening  Session,  at  8  o'clock. 


5^1 

.Vi3 


^anitary  Condition  of  Streets. 

By  Miss  T.  Barcalow,  Chairman. 


Unsanitary  Feeding  and  Care  of  Cows. 

Written  by  Mrs.  M.  E.  Schoen,  Chairman.     Read  by  MissC.  Westover. 

5anitary  Condition  of  Surface  &  Elevated  Cars  &  Public  Buildings. 

By  Mrs.  J.  de  la  M  Lozier,  Chairman. 

Police  Matrons  and  Municipal  Lodging  Houses. 

Written  and  read  by  Mrs.  G.  H.  Rosenfeld. 

Report  on  the  Evils  of  the  Bakeshops. 

Read  by  Miss  Mary  Phillips. 


Address  by  Hon.  C.  G.  Wilson,  President  Board  of  Health. 

Address  by  Hon.  Theodore  Roosevelt,  President  Police  Board. 

Address  by  Capt.  Gibson,  Deputy  Commissioner  of  Street  Cleaning  Dep't. 

Address  by  Dr.  Moreau  Morris,  Vice-President  of  the  Mayor's  Committee 
on  People's  Baths  and  Houses  of  Public  Comfort. 

Informal  Reception  to  Officials,  Delegates  and  Speakers,  by  the 

Association. 


The  Second  Day  will  be  devoted  to  visiting  various  places  in  the 
City,  showing  to  the  delegates  and  others  interested,  the  work  accom- 
plished through  the  efforts  of  the  Association. 


5 


Reception  and  Refreshment  Committee. 


Mrs.  A.  L.  Holt, 
Mrs.  M.  J.  Herbert, 
Miss  T.  Barcalow, 
Mrs.  E.  L.  C.  Dewey, 
Mrs.  J.  M.  Fiske, 
Miss  M.  Phillips, 
Mrs.  C.  M.  Williams, 


Mrs.  M.  E.  Schoen, 
Mrs.  R.  H.  Shainwald, 
Mrs.  J.  N.  Connor, 
Mrs.  C.  A.  Errani, 
Mrs.  M.  C.  Meyer, 
Miss  A.  Thomas, 
Dr.  H.  C.  Keatinge. 


Committee  on  Credentials. 

Mrs.  E.  L.  Wakeman,  Mrs.  G.  H.  Rosenfeld. 


Committee  on  Badges. 

Mrs.  S.  Baum.  Mrs.  C.  Fendler. 


Committees'  Badge  :  Blue  and  Pearl  Gray. 


Officers. 


President, 

ist  Vice-President, 

2d  Vice-President, 

Recording  Secretary, 

Corresponding  Secretary, 

Treasurer, 

A  uditor. 


Mrs.  M.  E.  Trautmann. 
Mrs.  M.  A.  Newton. 
Mrs.  E.  Hermann. 
Mrs.  G.  H.  Rosenfeld. 
Mrs.  E.  L.  Wakeman. 
Mrs.  M.  Phillips. 
Mrs.  J.  de  la  M.  Lozier. 


Board  of  Directors. 

Mrs.  S.  Baum,  Mrs.  C.  Fendler, 

Mrs.  T.  Barcalow,  Mrs.  J.  Fiske, 

Mrs.  H.  S.  Bell,  Mrs.  A.  L.  Holt, 

Mrs.  C.  Errani,  Mrs.  M.  J.  Herbert. 


6 


c)     DELEGATES,  g 


nd 


Amies,  Mrs  Olive  Pond 

Philadelphia. 

Burtis,  Mrs.  J.  H.  . 

Orange,  N.  J. 

Butler,  Miss  Mary 

Yonkers. 

Bayles,  Mrs.  E.  M.  . 

.    Port  Jefferson. 

Conway,  Miss  Clara 

Memphis,  Tenn. 

Coonley,  Mrs.  L.  M. 

.  Chicago. 

Ciani,  Mrs.  M.  . 

Perth  Amboy. 

Dr.  De  Hart 

Jersey  City. 

Dexter,  Mrs.  M.  E. 

.  Dorchester. 

Eaken,  Mrs.  L.  D.  . 

Chatanooga,  Tenn. 

Elder,  Miss  L. 

Philadelphia. 

Gallison,  Mrs.  K.  B.  . 

Orange,  N.  J. 

Gilbert,  Mrs.  Alexander  . 

Plainfield. 

Goodridge,  Mrs.  A.  M. 

Flushing,  L.  I. 

Gaines,  Miss  Celia 

.   Jersey  City. 

Hall,  Mrs.  M.  R. 

Montclair,  N.  J. 

Herron,  Mrs.  W.  A. 

Pittsburg,  Pa. 

Horton,  Mrs.  E.  B.  . 

Cranford,  N.  J. 

Luttrell,  Mrs.  J.  M. 

Knoxville,  Tenn. 

Lewis,  Mrs.  L.  L. 

.  Richmond,  Va. 

Mather,  Mrs.  E.  . 

.  Wilmington,  Del. 

Northrup,  Mrs.  A. 

Yonkers. 

Perry,  Mrs.  Andrew  J.  . 

.  Brooklyn. 

Pond,  Mrs.  D.  W. 

Plainfield,  N.  J. 

Plunkett,  Mrs.  M. 

.    Pittsfield,  Mass. 

Payne,  Mrs.  W.  H. 

Nashville,  Tenn. 

Richardson,  Mrs.  Ella 

Boston,  Mass. 

Stevenson,  Dr.  Sarah  H. 

Chicago. 

Stillman,  Mrs.  Frances 

.  Albany. 

Smith,  Dr.  Julia  H. 

Chicago. 

Scrimgeour,  Mrs.  James 

Brooklyn. 

Scribner,  Mrs.  A.  T. 

Philadelphia. 

Schneider,  Mrs.  J.  H. 

Perth  Amboy. 

Sharman,  Mrs.  S.  R. 

Yonkers. 

Woods,  Mrs.  H.  H.  . 

Erie,  Pa. 

Woodbridge,  Mrs.  M.  . 

Chester,  Pa. 

7 


RIR.ST  CONVENTION 


OF  THR 


LADIES    HEALTH    PROTECTIVE  ASSOCIATION. 


An  informal  meeting  was  held  in  the  library  of  the  United 
Charities  Building,  May  14th,  at  eleven  o'clock,  after  which 
the  visiting  delegates  were  received  at  the  Park  Avenue  Hotel, 
where  luncheon  was  served. 

After  luncheon  the  ladies  proceeded  to  the  lecture  hall  in 
the  Academy  of  Medicine  and  the  formal  business  of  the  con- 
vention was  commenced.  The  President,  Mrs.  M.  E.  Traut- 
mann  in  the  chair,  the  first  Vice-President  Mrs.  M.  A.  Newton 
occupying  a  seat  on  the  platform  beside  her. 

The  roll  of  delegates  having  been  called,  the  President  read 
her  address  of  welcome.    She  said  : 

Friends  and  delegates  from  sister  cities — Our  members 
extend  you  a  most  sincere  and  hearty  welcome  to  this  our 
first  convention  since  we  organized  twelve  years  ago. 

When,  in  November,  1884,  the  little  band  of  eleven  women 
organized  for  the  protection  of  their  own  homes,  which  were 
polluted  with  foul  odors  coming  from  a  section  of  the  city 
none  of  them  were  familiar  with,  not  one  of  us  thought  the 
work  would  grow  to  such  an  extent  that  we  would  ever  find 
it  necessary  to  hold  a  convention  for  the  interchange  of 
thoughts  and  ideas. 

In  the  early  days  we  had  many  discouragements,  and 
had  we  realized  the  magnitude  of  the  work  we  had 
undertaken,  I  do  not  think  the  Ladies'  Health  Protective 
Association  would  be  in  existence  to-day.  As  it  was,  many 
fell  from  our  ranks  by  the  wayside,  filled  with  despair,  but 


he  Ladies  Health  Protective  Associa- 
tion of  New  York  City,  held  a  convention 
of  clubs  and  associations  interested  in  the 
protection  of  health,  on  May  14th  and  15th, 
1896,  at  the  Academy  of  Medicine,  17  West 
43rd  Street,  New  York. 


8 


the  more  energetic  ones  kept  on,  inspired  with  a  courage  that 
was  remarkable.  The  old  saying,  that  nothing  succeeds  like 
success,  was  fully  exemplified  in  our  Association,  for  our  first 
success  was  the  abolishment  of  a  nuisance  maintained  by  a 
man  who  had  defied  both  law  and  order  for  years,  and  though 
indicted  several  times,  was  always  able,  through  his  political 
influence,  to  have  the  indictments  pigeon-holed. 

Having  gained  such  a  victory  in  the  beginning,we  grew  bolder, 
but  as  the  field  was  a  new  one  for  women  (we  being  the  first 
society  of  the  kind  ever  organized)  the  municipal  authorities  did 
not  look  upon  us  with  favor.  Instead  of  co-operation  we  met 
antagonism  at  every  step.  This,  however,  did  not  turn  us  from 
our  course,  but  was  rather  an  incentive  to  go  on,  for,  like  the 
maiden  in  love,  the  more  she  is  opposed,  the  stronger  her 
love  grows,  and  she  is  usually  victorious. 

While  we  builded  better  than  we  knew,  it  did  not  take  us 
long  to  realize  what  we  might  accomplish  by  patient  and 
persevering  effort.  To-day  we  can  look  back  and  wonder  how 
such  a  state  of  affairs  could  have  existed  for  so  many  years 
in  a  civilized  community.  Men  had  tried  to  do  the  work 
before  us,  but  they  had  failed  ;  we  are  not  so  much  surprised 
at  that,  because  they  are  the  bread  winners,  and  cannot  give 
the  time  and  attention  to  the  details,  nor  do  they  so  well 
understand  housekeeping  with  its  numerous  duties.  We 
consider  the  city's  housekeeping  next  in  importance  to  our 
own. 

I  will  not  weary  you  with-  the  history  of  our  work,  as  you 
will  hear  the  papers  of  our  various  chairmen  read  this  eve- 
ning, and  will  see  the  practical  results  on  our  trip  to-morrow. 
I  merely  touch  upon  a  few  of  the  salient  points,  that  you 
may  not  despair  of  accomplishing  the  same  results  in  your 
own  cities 

Three  daughters  have  entered  under  our  charter  since  we 
organized ;  one  in  Brooklyn,  one  in  Pittsburg,  and  one  in 
Philadelphia.  We  are  happy  to  say  that  they  are  very  pre- 
cocious children,  and  are  getting  along  so  rapidly  that  sometimes 
the  parent  cannot  keep  track  of  them.  The  Brooklyn  Associ- 
ation will  tell  you  this  afternoon  of  her  great  work  in  indepen- 
dent lines,  showing  splendid  results  under  the  able  leadership 
of  her  President.  The  Pittsburg  Association  has  joined  the 
Civic  League  in  her  city,  but  will  not  give  up  her  name,  and 
though  she  could  not  send  a  delegate  at  such  notice,  her 
paper  will  tell  us  what  she  has  accomplished  in  Sanitary 
reform,  especially  in  the  line  of  prohibiting  expectoration  in 
cars.  The  President,  Mrs.  John  Oakley,  informed  me  in  our 
first  interview  that  the  habit  was  so  prevalent  in  the  City  of 
Pittsburg,  that  you  could  not  walk  a  dozen  yards  on  the 
street  nor  enter  a  street  car  without  soiling  your  clothes. 

The  Philadelphia  Association  is  like  the  youngest  child,  who 
usually  has  her  own  way  because  she  is  the  youngest.  This 


9 


Society  is  so  very  energetic  that  it  is  due  solely  to  it  that  we 
are  holding  this  convention.  Philadelphia  wanted  it  a  year 
ago,  but  time  was  too  precious,  and  we  were  too  busy  with 
legislative  work,  but,  like  the  impetuous  child,  she  renewed 
her  request  this  spring,  by  telling  us  she  was  going  to  hold  it 
herself.  We  could  not,  of  course,  consent  to  have  the  child  go 
so  far  ahead  of  the  parent,  and  resolved  to  find  the  time  to  hold 
the  Convention  ourselves,  when  we  could  have  the  pleasure  of 
meeting  not  only  our  children,  but  all  of  our  friends  who  were 
interested  in  reforms  for  the  public  benefit.  We  hope,  through 
it,  to  be  able  to  enlarge  our  family,  until,  like  the  famous 
Smith's,  we  shall  have  relatives  all  over  the  country. 

We  hope  that  you  will  find  both  pleasure  and  profit  in  this 
meeting,  and  that  your  stay  in  our  city  will  be  an  agreeable  one. 
We  shall  do  all  in  our  power  to  make  it  so,  and  while,  in 
showing  you  the  work  we  have  accomplished,  we  hope  to  give 
you  courage  to  battle  with  your  own  difficulties,  we,  in  our 
turn,  expect  to  get  inspiration  from  the  recital  of  the  work 
you  have  done. 

I  am  truly  glad  that  it  has  been  possible  for  us  to  gather 
here  to-day,  and  I  trust  that  through  this  meeting  branch 
associations  may  be  formed  under  our  charter  and  the  work 
of  health  protection  carried  into  every  town  and  every  city  in 
the  Union  ;  and  therefore  it  is  with  hope  in  the  future,  as  well 
as  pleasure  in  the  present,  that  I  say  to  you  Welcome  ! 

When  the  applause  which  greeted  the  President's  speech 
had  subsided,  the  Recording  Secretary,  Mrs.  G.  H.  Rosenfeld, 
read  some  letters  of  regret  from  delegates  who  were  unable 
to  be  present. 

The  President  then  called  on  Mrs.  J.  E.  Scrimgeour  of 
Brooklyn,  President  of  the  Women's  Health  Protective  Asso- 
ciation of  that  city,  who  gave  the  following  interesting 
report  of  the  work  of  her  society,  the  first  society  incorporated 
under  the  charter  of  the  Ladies  Health  Protective  Association 
of  New  York  City. 

Madam  President  and  Fellow  Workers  : 

It  was  a  peculiarly  happy  thought  that  originated  bringing  the  women 
together  who  have  set  themselves  apart  from  ordinary  lines  of  work  and 
have  practically  demonstrated  an  unselfish  interest  in  those  matters  which 
are  for  the  highest  welfare  of  humanity. 


10 


I  think  it  is  safe  to  prophesy  that  in  years  to  come  Beekman  Place  will  be 
one  of  the  historic  landmarks  of  N.  Y.  City,  for  here  was  born  that  great 
enterprise  which  has  resulted  in  the  formation  of  Women's  Health  Protective 
Associations  thoroughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  our  land.  And  the 
battle  waged  in  defence  of  home  by  these  noble  women  will  be  rehearsed  as 
long  as  there  are  women  who  are  alive  to  the  health  and  happiness  of  their 
loved  ones. 

This  Association  may  well  rejoice  in  the  personal  success  of  its  twelve  years' 
labor,  and  it  may  also  find  abundant  cause  for  congratulation,  because  it  has 
been  the  means  of  arousing  thousands  of  women  to  a  sense  of  their  civic 
obligations. 

We  are  a  goodly  family  assembled  here  to-day,  and  it  is  with  profound 
pleasure  that  I  offer  most  respectful  salutations  in  the  name  of  The  Brooklyn 
Women's  Health  Protective  Association,  to  the  mother  of  us  all.  All  hail  to 
The  Ladies  Health  Protective  Association  of  New  York  ! 

A  five  minutes'  talk  must  necessarily  be  somewhat  superficial,  and  does  not 
admit  of  generous  treatment  of  a  subject. 

The  work  in  Brooklyn  was  spontaneous  in  its  growth,  no  great  abomina- 
tions pressed  us  into  service,  and  no  preparations  were  made  for  a  permanent 
campaign ;  but  after  our  first  steps  had  been  taken,  and  we  had  lifted  up 
protesting  voices  against  a  reign  of  disorder  and  dirt  in  our  midst,  the 
influence  of  this  Association  stimulated  us  to  systematic  endeavors,  and  we 
became  incorporated  under  its  charter,  and  we  have  always  been  one  in  pur- 
pose ;  although  our  methods  of  achieving  results  have  been  somewhat 
different.  We  deal  more  with  the  little  things  that  make  up  the  sum  of 
universal  misery,  and  are  pressing  forward  to  an  ideal  condition,  by  seeking  to 
awaken  the  inhabitants  of  our  city  to  the  thought  that  each  and  every  one  is 
individually  responsible  for  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  a  community. 

We  have  come  to  be  known  as  advocates  of  good  government  by  a  public 
assayal  three  years  ago  in  behalf  of  reform,  and  credit  ourselves  with  no  slight 
share  in  the  victory  won  for  freedom  from  ring  rule  in  our  midst.  Our 
principal  work  is  directed  toward  having  suitable  ordinances  enacted  for  the 
protection  of  order  loving  citizens  in  their  legitimate  rights,and  having  secured 
such  ordinances,  to  seek  diligently  for  their  enforcement.  The  ash  barrel  that 
has  been  our  text  for  six  years,  is  but  the  type  of  an  idea,  that  faithfulness  to 
the  small  affairs  of  life  is  a  preparation  for  grander  service  whenever  needed. 
It  has  been  the  earnest  desire  of  our  Association  ever  since  its  organization  to 
inspire  the  children  of  the  city  with  a  laudable  degree  of  pride  in  its  welfare, 
and  to  train  them  to  understand  that  they  are  under  bonds  for  value  received 
to  do  all  in  their  power  for  its  well  being.  We  have,  during  the  past  year, 
perfected  the  scheme  we  have  had  in  view,  by  publishing  a  little  book  entitled 
The  Children's  Aid  to  The  Women's  Health  Protective  Association,  and  sev- 
eral hundred  boys  and  girls  are  now  enrolled  on  our  books  as  recognized  Co- 
workers. The  response  to  our  appeal  has  heen  so  genuine  and  hearty  we 
wonder  we  did  not  long  ago  abandon  all  attempts  to  cope  with  established 
habits  of  indifference  toward  cleanliness  and  decency.  We  are  now  openly 
protesting  against  the  prevalent  and  offensive  vice  of  spitting  in  public  places, 
and  while  it  is  a  most  unpleasant  subject,  and  is  hardly  to  be  mentioned  to 
"ears  polite,"  the  practice  that  has  compelled  the  dicussion  of  the  question 
is  still  more  so.  In  short,  our  society  is  working  for  a  cleanliness  that  springs 
from  within,  whose  fruit  will  be  civic  honor  and  integrity,  and  when  these 
prevail  we  will  have  clean  streets,  pure  water,  good  schools,  righteous  laws 


11 


honestly  executed,  and  cities  which  will  vie  with  any  that  now  challenge  our 
admiration.  To  hasten  this  millenial  day  women  can  become  as  "  terrible  as 
an  army  with  banners,"  and  teach,  by  precept  and  example,  that  political 
strength  is  the  culmination  of  individual  service  from  each  and  all. 

ELLEN  A.  SCRIMGEOUR. 


The  President,  Mrs.  Trautmann,  in  commenting  upon  the 
excellent  paper  from  the  Brooklyn  society,  signified  her 
approval  of  the  endeavor  to  educate  children  to  a  sense 
of  their  rights  and  duties  as  citizens,  and  thought  the  home 
society  would  do  well  to  take  up  this  line  of  work  also  ;  and 
then  called  on  that  most  energetic  society,  also  formed 
under  the  New  York  Health  Protective  Charter  :  The  Women's 
Health  Protective  Association  of  Philadelphia. 

Mrs.  Anne  T.  Scribner,  the  President,  gave  the  following 
report  of  work : 


The  Woman's  Health  Protective  Association  was  founded  in  1893  as  a 
committee  of  the  New  Century  Club,  Mrs.  Edwin  L.  Hall  being  the  first 
President.  On  the  invitation  of  the  New  Century  Club,  the  President  of  the 
New  York  Association,  Mrs.  M.  E.  Trautmann,  made  an  address,  and  the 
women  of  Philadelphia  decided  then  and  there  to  organize  a  Health  Protec- 
tive Association  on  the  plan  of  the  one  in  New  York.  The  Association 
seemed  to  meet  a  want  in  the  city,  for  over  two  hundred  women  joined  that 
Spring.  The  country  at  this  time  had  been  threatened  with  an  invasion  of 
cholera,  and  the  women  of  Philadelphia,  following  in  the  footsteps  of  their 
sisters  in  New  York,  woke  up  to  the  fact  that  women  are  very  personally  con- 
cerned in  such  a  disease  as  cholera  ;  indeed,  we  all  know  that  to  the  women 
of  the  family  fall  all  the  arrangements  of  the  details  in  regard  to  health, 
and  that  as  women  grow  more  and  more  alive  to  the  dire  results  of  neglect  of 
sanitary  laws,  they  are  becoming  more  and  more  interested  to  see  that 
these  laws  are  observed,  in  all  the  detail  which  long  centuries  of  domestic 
home-keeping  have  taught  them  are  so  important.  , 

As  mankind  has  studied  the  subject  of  public  hygiene  more  closely,  it  begins 
to  be  plain  how  the  crowding  of  human  beings  into  the  great  municipalities 
has  given  rise  to  especial  dangers  to  health  and  to  life.  For  instance,  the 
frightful  herding  of  the  poor  in  houses  unfit  for  human  habitation,  with  no 
sufficient  water  supply  and  no  efficient  means  of  disposing  of  the  waste  from 
these  houses,  led  to  a  condition  of  things  in  England  at  the  beginning  of 
this  century  almost  too  bad  to  be  believed.  That  people  lived  at  all  is  the 
wonder,  and  it  took  but  little  to  carry  off  large  numbers  of  them  at  every  epi- 
demic. It  seems  incredible  to  us  now,  the  enormous  predjudice  that  had  to 
be  overcome  before  laws  could  be  passed  to  cover  the  various  points  where 
regard  for  the  public  hygiene  could  wisely  interfere  ;  but  they  finally  were 


* 


12 


accomplished,  and  now  every  member  of  a  community  feels  entitled  to  protec- 
tion in  regard  to  his  health,  just  as  he  is  in  regard  to  his  liberty  and  his 
property. 

It  is  interesting  to  find  that  in  many  of  these  points  we  are  simply  returning 
to  the  cleanly  condition  of  the  most  prosperous  ancient  cities.  Sanitary  laws 
have  been  in  existence  from  the  earliest  times,  and  if  the  laws  laid  down  in 
the  Pentateuch  had  been  obeyed  by  Christian  nations,  preventable  diseases 
would  not  have  made  the  ravages  they  have  through  all  these  centuries.  The 
old  Romans  too,  had  a  system  of  sewers  which  have  not  yet  been  improved 
upon  by  modern  science,  and  the  remains  of  their  aqueducts  are  among  the 
wonders  of  the  world.  Hippocrates,  among  the  Greeks,  gave  us  the  cardinal 
hygienic  formula  :  "pure  air,  pure  water,  and  a  pure  soil,"  and  after  all 
these  centuries  we  know  nothing  to  add  to  it. 

This  modern  movement  toward  sanitary  reform  may  be  said  to  have  begun 
in  1893,  after  the  formation  of  a  local  Board  of  Health  to  prevent  the  spread 
of  cholera  in  England.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  rules  were  then  adopted 
which  included,  1st :  The  marking  of  all  houses  containing  cases  of  cholera. 
2nd  :  The  attempt  to  separate  the  sick  from  the  well,  all  intercourse  pre- 
vented, and  all  houses  afterward  to  be  thoroughly  purified.  It  was  during 
this  alarm,  as  has  often  been  the  case  since,  that  the  sanitary  conditions 
under  which  the  people  were  living  became  generally  known.  For  example, 
the  cholera  scare  did  more  in  rousing  the  public  in  New  York  in  a  few  weeks, 
than  had  been  accomplished  before  during  years  of  indifference.  The  old 
and  world-wide  belief  that  disease  is  due  to  special  Providence  or  to  the 
vengeance  of  offended  Deity,  although  generally  abandoned  as  regards  indi- 
vidual cases  or  limited  localities,  still  lingers  in  the  minds  of  many  with 
regard  to  great  epidemics,  which  are  either  thought  to  be  inevitable  or  to  be 
averted  by  prayer  and  fasting,  and  citizens  are  inclined  to  leave  the  care  of 
the  public  health  to  those  officials  whom  we  have  selected  for  the  purpose, 
forgetting  that  the  passing  of  good  sanitary  laws  will  not  ensure  public 
health  unless  the  public  at  large  supports  these  laws  with  an  active  and  intelli- 
gent co  operation.  Less  than  a  century  ago  the  idea  prevailed  that  it  was  of 
doubtful  propriety  to  ask  why  we  were  sick,  and  even  to  this  day  many  believe 
that  such  an  inquiry  savors  of  irreligion.  Happily  this  condition  of  otherwise 
intelligent  minds  is  passing  away,  and  we  are  realizing  more  and  more  that, 
as  in  good  housekeeping,  so  in  good  town-keeping,  eternal  vigilance  is  the 
price  of  health. 

No  town  is  self- cleansing,  and  the  powers  of  science  and  of  the  arts,  great 
as  they  are,  are  taxed  to  the  uttermost,  to  afford  even  an  approximate  solution 
to  the  problems  with  which  the  sanitarian  is  concerned.  He  has  only  lately 
begun  to  suspect  the  existence  of  some  of  these  problems,  but  in  doing  even 
this  he  has  made  a  great  step  in  advance,  for  where  they  have  become  clearly 
defined,  they  are,  in  most  cases,  half-solved. 

Too  much  honor  cannot  be  given  to  the  few  earnest  women  in  New  York, 
who  so  long  ago  as  1884  determined  to  accomplish  something  in  the  study  of 
these  municipal  problems  and  toward  the  abatement  of  nuisances  over- 
looked by  men. 

The  Woman's  Health  Protective  Association  of  Philadelphia,  decided  that 
it  was  of  the  first  importance  to  obtain  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  Munici- 
pal Government  and  of  the  problems  presented  in  pursuing  their  work  for 
the  public  health,  and  for  this  reason  they  confined  their  attention  to  study 
for  the  first  winter,  and  invited  various  public  officials  to  address  them  ; 


13 


especially  those  of  the  Board  of  Health  and  the  Department  of  Public  Works. 
The  second  year,  however,  a  change  was  made  in  the  Presidency,  and  the 
membership  became  so  large  that  it  was  decided  to  form  a  separate  organiza- 
tion, and  the  Association  rented  rooms  of  its  own  in  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Building, 
Fifteenth  and  Chestnut  Streets.  We  also  engaged  a  paid  secretary,  as  the 
work  had  become  too  large  to  be  handled  entirely  by  volunteers.  Our  mem- 
bership is  now  about  four  hundred,  including  those  who  belong  to  our  down- 
town branch.  Naturally  the  work  has  led  us  more  or  less  into  contact  with  the 
public  officials,  whom  we  have  ever  found  both  kind  and  sympathetic  in  their 
attitude  toward  us.  They  have  given  us  advice  and  have  welcomed  any  sug- 
gestions which  we  have  made,  although  not  always  able  to  adopt  them,  and 
our  Association  is  pledged  by  its  constitution  to  co-operate  actively  with  the 
municipal  anthorities.  The  press  also,  not  only  in  Philadelphia,  but  through- 
out the  country,  have  been  almost  a  unit  in  their  word  of  encouragement  and 
sympathy  for  us  in  our  endeavor. 

We  have  brightened  our  monotonous  life  of  hard  work  by  an  occasional 
coming  together  in  a  social  way.  A  year  ago  we  had  a  delightful  reception, 
to  which  the  Mayor  of  Philadelphia  came  and  spoke  a  few  words  to  us,  and 
this  winter  we  have  had  mumerous  conferences  and  lectures,  among  them 
being  one  by  Colonel  Waring  of  New  York.  Among  other  events  was  an 
Association  Breakfast,  which  the  papers  declared  to  be  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
events  ever  given  in  this  city. 

We  have  sent  delegates  for  two  years  to  the  Conferences  of  the  National 
Municipal  League.  During  the  second  year  it  was  decided  to  form  committees 
on  the  various  causes  affecting  the  public  health  and  safety,  with  the  aim 
of  accomplishing  some  practical  results,  and  the  following  committees  were 
organized  :  Contagious  Diseases,  Water  Supply,  Street  Cleaning  and  Collection 
of  Garbage  and  Ashes  Committees,  Sweating  System,  Trolleys,  and  Literature. 
Later  the  Street  Cleaning  and  Collection  of  Garbage  and  Ashes  Committees 
were  consolidated,  and  also  the  Committees  on  the  Sweating  System  and 
Visiting  Public  Institutions.  The  first  work  of  each  committee  was  to  study 
its  own  specific  needs  and  ideals ;  for  instance,  our  Water  Supply  Com- 
mittee, after  thoroughly  considering  all  the  details  of  the  water  supply  of 
other  places,  both  here  and  abroad,  came  to  the  conclusion  that  to  make  the 
water  of  Philadelphia  perfectly  sanitary  and  pure,  some  system  of  filtration 
must  be  immediately  adopted.  After  careful  consideration  of  all  known  meth- 
ods of  filtration,  our  Committee  recommended, and  the  Association  adopted,  the 
natural  method  of  sand  filtration,  in  use  in  many  of  the  larger  European 
cities,  and  of  recent  date  in  Lawrence,  Massachusetts.  In  adopting  this  system, 
we  have  had  to  combat  many  prejudices  in  favor,  first  of  a  purer  water 
supply,  then  of  various  patented  methods  of  filtration.  The  argument  in  re- 
gard to  the  first,  however,  is,  that  it  will  take  years  of  time  and  an  enormous 
expenditure  of  money  to  bring  water  to  Philadelphia  from  any  of  the  places 
suggested,  and  when  we  have  brought  it,  one  family,  whose  presence  it  might 
be  difficult  to  ascertain,  with  one  case  of  cholera,  could  transmit  enough 
germs  in  apparently  pure,  sparkling  water  to  decimate  our  city.  Another 
great  obstacle  in  the  way  is  the  fact  that  all  the  pure  sources  of  supply  are 
out  of  the  jurisdiction  of  Pennsylvania,  and  that,  as  other  states  are  built  up, 
factories  and  objectionable  buildings  might  be  located  on  our  source  of  supply, 
and  Philadelphia  be  powerless  to  prevent  it.  By  the  natural  methods  of  sand 
filtration  however,  our  experts  have  informed  us,  that  under  scientific  sur- 
veillance the  waters  of  the  Delaware  and  the  Schuylkill  within  our  boundaries, 


14 


can  be  made  almost  perfectly  pure  and  harmless,  and  give  us  sufficient  water 
supply  for  all  time.  As  is  well  known,  typhoid  fever  is  distinctly  traceable  to 
a  contaminated  water  supply.  Colonel  Waring,  in  his  article  in  the  Engineer- 
ing Magazine  for  February,  1895,  says,  for  instance,  that  typhoid  fever  is  an 
absolutely  preventable  disease,  and  that  the  town  with  twelve  annual  deaths 
from  this  cause,  "  suffers  an  execution  of  one  of  its  members  every  month 
and  calmly  accepts  it,"  whereas  if  there  were  twelve  annual  cases  of  actual 
poisoning  by  some  unknown  person,  what  an  uproar  would  at  once  ensue, 
and  how  the  residents  of  such  a  town  would  tremble  at  the  prospect  of  its 
being  their  turn  next,  and  what  strenuous  efforts  would  be  made  to  detect 
the  murderer  ! 

If  the  City  of  Philadelphia  lost  only  five  out  of  every  ten  thousand  persons  it 
would  still  be  responsible  for  six  hundred  murders  a  year,  and  when  we  real- 
ize that  a  low  estimate  is  twenty  people  sick  for  every  one  dying,  and  that 
every  case  of  sickness  is  on  an  average  a  loss  of  fifty  to  one  hundred  dollars, 
we  can  at  once  see  the  reason  why  the  Woman's  Health  Protective  Association 
decided  to  make  a  vigorous  campaign  for  pure  water.  This  we  have  done 
by  presenting  memorials  to  both  branches  of  Councils,  by  two  public  inter- 
views with  the  Mayor,  and  by  a  mass  meeting  in  Association  Hall,  in  conjunc- 
tion with  committees  from  the  Woman's  Civic  Club,  the  Wistar  Biological 
Institute  and  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons.  This  year  a  Joint 
Committee  representing  fifty  organizations  has  been  formed,  with  which  we 
are  in  active  co-operation.  Our  committee  also  undertook  the  work  of  inter- 
viewing the  two  hundred  and  sixty  members  of  Councils,  and  it  had 
printed  a  thousand  circulars  of  information  in  regard  to  the  whole  subject  of 
water  purification,  and  twenty  five  reports  by  a  water-works  engineer, 
besides  securing  signatures  for  one  thousand  petitions  praying  for  pure  water. 

I  have  been  thus  particular  in  giving  an  account  of  the  work  of  one  com- 
mittee, in  order  to  show  how  the  women  of  a  community,  banded  together 
in  Health  Protective  Associations,  can,  with  others,  lead  the  thought  of  that 
community  in  realizing  the  public  dangers  to  health  and  safety,  and  can 
materially  assist  in  rousing  public  sentiment  to  effectually  demand  much- 
needed  reforms. 

In  our  Contagious  Diseases  Committee  too,  much  thought  was  given  last 
year  to  the  slight  epidemic  of  small-pox,  and  after  some  discussion,  our  Asso- 
ciation put  itself  on  record  in  a  strong  resolution  advocating  vaccination,  and 
also  in  resolutions  praying  the  Board  of  Health  to  universally  mark  all  houses 
containing  the  severer  contagious  diseases.  Considering  the  fact  that  the  last 
epidemic  of  small-pox  cost  the  City  of  Philadelphia  twenty-one  and  a  half 
million  of  dollars,  it  seems  as  if  too  strong  action  could  not  be  taken  by  the 
Board  of  Health  to  stamp  out  these  contagious  diseases.  But,  to  our  aston- 
ishment be  it  said,  we  have  discovered  that  the  Board  of  Health  finds  great 
difficulty  in  causing  individual  cases  to  be  marked  or  flagged.  However, 
we  feel  that  by  agitation  and  education  our  citizens  will  soon  come  to  see  the 
misery  which  recklessness  in  this  respect  causes  the  community.  On  account 
of  the  many  outsiders  who  come  to  Philadelphia  as  well  as  to  our  own  citizens 
it  is  a  matter  of  the  first  importance  that  people  should  not  be  allowed  to  walk 
unsuspectingly  into  a  veritable  death  trap.  We  have  also  taken  active  steps 
in  regard  to  the  contagiousness  of  tuberculosis,  by  holding  a  conference  on  the 
subject  in  which  a  number  of  prominent  physicians  addressed  the  Association, 
and  by  having  five  thousand  cards  printed  containing  rules  for  consumptives, 
to  prevent  the  spread  of  the  disease.    Here  may  I  say,  that  the  Association 


JJB 


last  year  found  itself  much  hampered  by  lack  of  funds,  and  so  we  decided 
to  publish  a  Woman's  Edition  of  the  Philadelphia  Press.  This  netted  us 
six  thousand  eight  hundred  dollars  ;  forty-five  hundred  the  share  of  the  Health 
Protective  Association,  and  twenty-three  hundred  to  be  the  nucleus  of  a  fund 
to  start  a  Contagious  Diseases  Hospital  for  pay  patients.  A  Joint  Committee 
has  been  formed,  of  members  of  the  County  Medical  Society  and  of  the 
Association,  who  have  issued  a  strong  appeal  to  the  public,  stating  the 
necessity  for  such  a  hospital  in  Philadelphia.  This  committee  has  four  women 
doctors  among  its  members,  and  the  Association  hopes  to  enlist  more  of  the 
profession  for  active  work.  This  committee  also  protested  against  the  re- 
moval of  the  Municipal  Hospital  from  its  present  site. 

The  Street-Cleaning  Committee  meets  once  a  week,  and  each  member  re- 
ports the  condition  of  the  streets  which  have  come  under  her  notice  during 
the  week.  The  Committee  also  receives  complaints  from  every  part  of  the 
city,  verifies  them  and  forwards  them  each  week  to  the  Department  of  Public 
Works  and  to  all  the  papers.  The  Committee  is  studying  carefully  various 
perplexing  questions  connected  with  the  collection  of  garbage  and  ashes,  and 
the  paper  nuisance,  which  is  such  a  problem  in  Philadelphia.  The  Com- 
mittee has  recommended  the  plan  of  having  the  ashes  called  for  and  taken 
out  in  the  same  manner  as  the  garbage.  This  Committee  has  visited  all  the 
Incinerating  Plants  in  the  city  ;  only  one  was  considered  satisfactory.  This 
now  burns  half  the  garbage  of  the  city,  the  other  half  is  disposed  of  by  the 
Arnold  system  of  reduction,  which  subjects  the  garbage  to  great  heat  for 
eight  hours,  and  then,  by  various  processes,  reduces  it  to  two  inodorless  sub- 
stances, one  a  fertilizer,  which  is  in  great  demand,  the  other,  grease,  which  is 
used  in  Germany  for  making  soap.  Eight  of  the  Committee  visited  this  plant 
and  were  entirely  satisfied  with  the  results.  This  Committee  is  also  actively 
co-operating  in  the  work  of  the  down-town  branch  which  was  formed  in  the 
slum  district,  with  the  idea  that  much  good  could  be  accomplished  among 
the  residents  in  that  quarter  by  thorough  study  and  active  co-operation  in 
these  vital  questions  of  health  and  cleanliness.  The  Health  Protective  League, 
as  our  down  town  branch  is  called,  has  issued  five  thousand  cards,  stating 
the  purpose  of  its  work,  and  it  has  also  had  printed  twenty-five  thousand 
cards,  time-tables  of  the  hours  when  the  garbage  and  ashes  may  be  collected. 
The  Branch  is  now  working  to  have  benches  introduced  in  the  piers  along  the 
Delaware,  for  the  benefit  of  mothers  with  sick  children.  A  Children's  League 
has  been  organized,  as  we  feel  that  work  among  children  is  the  most  hopeful 
of  any  undertaken.  The  Committee  has  been  very  much  encouraged  in  the 
result  of  its  weekly  report,  and  the  authorities  have  accepted  suggestions 
made  and  seemed  always  glad  to  co-operate  with  the  Committee.  There  is 
a  vast  field  of  work  still  before  this  Committee,  as  it  studies  these  municipal 
problems,  and  its  work,  valuable  as  it  has  been  in  the  past,  may  be  of  still 
greater  value  in  the  future . 

At  the  instance  of  our  Association,  the  Trolley  Committee  sent  a  Memorial 
to  every  Traction  Company  in  the  City,  as  well  as  to  the  Mayor  and  the 
Council,  asking  that  fenders  of  the  best  type  be  introduced,  that  over- 
crowding be  prevented,  that  the  motor-men  and  conductors  be  not  allowed  to 
work  more  than  ten  or  twelve  hours  a  day,  instead  of  sixteen  as  at  present, 
(as  the  long  hours  incapacitated  them  for  public  service,  and  imperiled  not 
only  their  own  lives,  but  those  of  the  travelling  public,)  that  these  men  be 
protected  from  the  weather  by  vestibules,  and  lastly  that  the  cars  be  heated, 
and  that  the  rules  regarding  expectoration  be  enforced.    Last  year  we 


1§ 


heartily  endorsed  a  bill  at  Harrisburg,  which  compels  the  vestibuling  of  cars 
from  November  until  March.  The  last  Memorial  was  one  which  asked  for 
enforcement  of  quiet  on  trolley  parties,  which  have  been  such  a  nuisance  after 
eleven  at  night. 

Our  Sweating  System  Committee  caused  the  introduction  of  a  bill  at  Harris- 
burg last  winter,  making  the  manufacturers  responsible  for  selling  garments 
made  in  the  sweat-shops,  and  we  are  also  interested  in  a  bill  of  the  textile 
workers  for  alleviating  the  miseries  of  the  factory  operators,  and  in  one 
introduced  by  the  factory  inspectors,  putting  the  regulation  of  the  sweat 
shops  under  the  care  of  the  inspectors,  and  requiring  certain  conditions  of 
room  and  air.  This  Committee  was  merged  this  winter  into  the  Committee 
for  Visiting  Public  Institutions,  who,  so  far,  have  confined  their  work  to 
visiting  the  public  schools.  A  number  of  schools  were  found  in  a  very 
wretched  sanitary  condition,  and  a  strong  effort  will  be  made  by  the  Com- 
mittee to  secure  a  sufficient  appropriation  to  remodel  the  old  schools, 
build  new  ones,  and  to  employ  more  janitors  to  keep  the  schools  in  the  proper 
condition  of  cleanliness  and  order.  A  wide  field  of  work  has  opened  before  this 
Committee,  as  it  fully  realizes  the  long  years  of  suffering  to  be  the  doom  of  the 
children  of  Philadelphia  unless  these  sanitary  physical  evils  are  abated. 
The  Committee  works  in  complete  harmony  with  the  Board  of  Education, 
to  whom  it  makes  a  report  of  the  condition  of  the  schools.  The  Board  is 
keenly  alive  to  these  conditions,  but  needs  an  appropriation  to  enable  them  to 
carry  out  these  reforms.  It  is  our  hope  that  we  may  be  able  to  assist  them  in 
securing  the  much-needed  money. 

Our  Literature  Committee  has  made  a  collection  of  over  five  thousand  press 
clippings,  upon  all  subjects  relating  to  public  health,  found  in  our  daily 
papers,  and  its  aim  is  to  keep  us  informed  of  magazine  articles,  pamphlets 
and  books  relating  to  the  work  of  any  of  our  committees,  and  to  form  a  really 
fine  library,  bearing  on  every  point  of  hygiene. 

Our  Association  is  also  interested  in  the  question  of  the  housing  of  the 
poor.  As  it  comes  more  to  the  front  every  year,  it  is  more  easily  seen  now  than 
formerly  that  the  conditions  of  the  dwellings  of  the  poor — neglected  places, 
out  of  view,  known  only  to  the  doctors  and  the  public  officers — is  a  constant 
menace  to  the  health  of  every  individual  in  the  city.  It  has  been  distinctly 
shown  that  children  brought  up  in  bad  sanitary  surroundings  are  inferior 
in  physical  health  and  are  less  susceptible  to  moral  influences.  Adverse 
physical  surroundings  tend  to  produce  an  adult  population,  short-lived, 
improvident,  reckless  and  intemperate,  and  the  removal  of  noxious  physical 
circumstances  and  the  promotion  of  civic,  household  and  personal  cleanliness 
are  as  necessary  to  the  improvement  of  the  moral  condition  of  the  community 
as  they  are  to  the  physical.  The  intolerable  suffering  and  degradation  in- 
curred by  masses  of  the  population  through  the  conditions  under  which,  by 
force  of  their  poverty,  they  are  generally  housed,  show  how  genuine  and  urgent 
a  need  there  is  that  we  should  concern  ourselves  systematically  and  compre- 
hensively in  all  the  interests  of  the  public  health.  We  all  know  what  large 
fresh  additions  of  human  misery  are  occurring  day  by  day  under  the  general 
prevalence  of  sanitary  neglect,  and  the  spectacle  of  so  much  needless  human 
misery  is  one  to  make  every  woman  do  all  in  her  power  to  rouse  such  part 
of  mankind  as  she  can  influence,  to  take  a  keen  and  vivid  interest  in  legisla- 
tive control  of  all  these  evils. 

Finally,  in  closing,  I  can  only  urge  upon  all  women  the  vast  importance  of  this 
work  for  the  public  health.    That  the  average  length  of  human  life  may  be 


17 


very  much  extended  and  its  physical  powers  greatly  augmented  ;  that  in  every 
year,  within  this  nation,  thousands  of  lives  are  lost  which  might  have  been 
saved  ;  that  tens  of  thousands  of  cases  of  sickness  occur  which  might  be  pre- 
vented ;  that  a  vast  amount  of  unnecessarily  impaired  health  and  physical 
debility  exists  among  those  not  confined  by  sickness  ;  that  these  preventable 
evils  require  an  enormous  expenditure  of  time  and  loss  of  money  and  impose 
upon  the  people  unnumbered  and  immeasurable  calamities,  pecuniary,  social, 
physical,  mental  and  moral,  which  might  be  avoided  ;  that  means  exist 
within  our  reach  for  their  mitigation  and  removal,  and  that  measures  for  this 
prevention  will  affect  far  more  than  remedies  for  their  cure,  and  that  upon 
the  women  of  the  land  this  great  burden  falls  most  heavily,  are  the  conclu- 
sions to  be  drawn  by  all  who  have  carefully  studied  this  subject.  It  must 
also  be  admitted  that  the  constant  and  continuous  care  of  the  community  at 
large  for  the  welfare  of  the  individual  parts  is  a  characteristic  of  our  present 
civilization.  Man  more  and  more  rises  to  the  religion  of  mutual  helpfulness  ; 
thoughts  of  loyalty  to  his  kind  are  gaining  sway  with  him,  and  the  Golden 
Rule  is  becoming  a  precept  with  a  wider  scope  than  was  thought  of  at  the 
beginning  of  this  century,  and  surely,  in  the  years  to  come,  as  science  is  more 
and  more  able  to  preserve  and  strengthen  to  men  their  Gift  of  Life,  they  who 
are  in  front  will  count  it  sin  and  shame  to  themselves  if  their  souls  fail  of 
answering  to  that  high  appeal  and  they  strive  not  with  all  their  strength  to 
fulfill  all  the  claims  of  that  great  allegiance. 

In  conclusion  may  it  be  given  to  every  one  here  to  realize  that  this  science 
is  a  growing  one,  with  constantly  opening  doors,  giving  new  visions  of  new 
dangers,  but  also  pointing  to  us  new  ways  to  fight  them,  and  let  us  remem- 
ber that  we  may  never  "  rest  and  be  thankful,  for  the  ancient  sphinx  meets 
us  at  every  turn,  and  her  demand  never  ceases — '  Read  me  my  riddle,  O  man, 
and  I  will  be  thy  slave  ;  neglect  it  or  fail  and  thou  shalt  be  devoured.'" 

ANNE  T.  SCRIBNER,  President. 

This  interesting  paper  was  received  with  much  applause. 
The  wonderful  work  accomplished  by  this  young  society  was 
commented  on  with  much  pleasure  by  the  President,  who  then 
called  on  Mrs.  W.  A.  Herron,  of  the  Pittsburg  Women's  Health 
Protective  Association,  for  her  report. 

The  Secretary  read  a  letter  from  the  Pittsburg  society 
regretting  inability  to  send  a  delegate  to  the  convention,  and 
enclosed  the  following  report,  which  was  read  by  the  Secretary. 

Pittsburg,  May  12,  1896. 

My  dear  Mrs.  Trautmann: 

I  send  you  this  report  of  one  of  our  annual  meetings.  The  report  is  two 
years  old,  but  I  send  it  chiefly  because  it  contains  the  results  of  our  investi- 
gations on  the  smoke  prevention  question.  The  smoke  nuisance  here  over- 
powers everything  else,  and  the  housekeepers  are  up  in  arms. 


18 


I  must  say  of  the  garbage  ordinance  alluded  to  in  this  report,  that  it  was 
passed  last  spring,  and  has  now  been  in  operation  a  year.  The  ordinance 
as  endorsed  by  the  Health  Association  was  much  amended  before  its  final 
passage,  and  is  consequently  not  so  thorough  a  measure  as  we  have  hoped  for, 
but  is  an  improvement  on  former  state  of  affairs. 

The  greatest  triumph  that  we  achieved  last  year  was  securing  the 
enforcement  of  a  law  recently  passed  by  Congress  providing  that  no  garbage 
shall  be  thrown  into  a  river  or  harbor  that  has  been  improved  by  the  U.  S. 
Government.  Notwithstanding  this  law,  garbage  by  the  ton  was  daily  dumped 
into  the  Alleghany  and  Ohio  rivers.  By  uniting  our  forces  with  the  Sanita- 
tion Commission — a  small  body  of  scientific  men — we  succeeded  in  securing 
the  enforcement  of  the  law,  to  the  great  benefit  of  the  people  living  along  the 
banks  of  the  river.  As  a  consequence  of  the  enforcement  of  this  law,  the 
garbage  ordinance  had  to  be  passed  at  once  so  that  a  means  of  disposing  of 
our  city  refuse  might  be  provided.  Mayor  Kennedy  of  our  sister-city  of 
Alleghany  said  at  a  public  meeting  :  ' '  every  sanitary  reform  that  is  now  before 
the  people  of  these  two  cities,  originated  in  the  Women's  Health  Protective 
Association.  " 

As  the  sanitary  branch  of  the  Civic  Club,  we  are  now  working  to  secure  at 
least  one  public  bath  house.  Think  of  a  city  of  300,000  people — and  a  city  as 
dirty  and  smoky  as  Pittsburg  without  a  public  bath  house  ! 

Your  secretary  will  be  able,  I  hope,  to  extract  a  few  items  of  interest  from 
this  letter  and  this  printed  report  that  may  assure  your  auditors  that  the 
Womens  Health  Association  is  fully  alive  and  wide-awake  in  Pittsburg. 

Sincerely, 

DIOGENE  B.  OAKLEY,  "Secretary. 


FOR  THE   PUBLIC  HEALTH. 

Several  years  ago  a  few  New  York  women  who  had  striven  individu- 
ally and  unsuccessfully  to  rid  the  neighborhood  of  various  offensive  nuisances, 
formed  themselves  into  an  association  to  see  what  could  be  accomplished  by 
organized  effort.  Thus  was  born  the  Women's  Health  Protective  Association, 
and  their  victories  over  the  manure  pit,  the  malodorous  factory,  and  the  disease- 
breeding  garbage  pile  have  led  to  the  organization  of  branch  societies  in 
many  of  our  principal  cities.' 

The  Womens  Health  Association  is  essentially  an  organization  of  house- 
keepers who  desire  to  go  no  further  into  public  life,  nor  to  have  any  more  to 
do  with  politics  and  politicians  than  is  necessary  to  maintain  their  homes  and 
immediate  surroundings  in  cleanliness 

Women  cannot  keep  their  households  in  that  state  of  cleanliness  which  is 
next  to  godliness  when  clouds  of  smoke  pollute  the  atmosphere  and  when 
the  dust  from  dessicated  garbage  sifts  in  at  every  crack  and  crevice. 


19 

It  is  a  mournful  fact  that  American  cities  are  the  dirtiest  in  the  world,  and 
when  we  think  of  our  smoke-laden  atmosphere  and  the  garbage  piled  up  In 
back  yards  and  alleys,  we  are  forced  reluctantly  to  give  Pittsburg  the  pre- 
eminence over  all. 

During  the  two  years  since  our  organization  we  have  been  active  in  agitat- 
ing the  necessity  of  daily  garbage  removal.  By  means  of  petitions  addressed 
to  the  Mayors  and  the  Councils,  and  by  articles  in  the  daily  papers,  we  have 
endeavored  to  awaken  our  citizens  to  the  fact  that  Pittsburg  and  Alleghany 
are  the  only  two  cities  in  the  civilized  world  without  a  garbage  removal  law. 
By  paying  a  dollar  a  month,  those  who  are  cleanly  and  well-to-do,  can  have 
their  refuse  carried  away  twice  a  week.  And  we  all  know  that  twice  a  week 
is  not  often  enough  in  summer,  but  there  are  thousands  of  poor  families  who 
cannot  afford  a  dollar  a  month,  and  yet  must  dispose  of  their  garbage  in 
some  manner.  Shall  we  blame  them  if  they  throw  it  into  adjacent  alleys, 
pile  it  up  in  back  yards,  or  make  a  dumping  ground  of  their  cellars?  One  of 
the  members  report  having  discovered  a  family  who  have  dumped  the  over- 
flow of  their  stable  yard  into  their  cellar  until  it  is  almost  even  full  of  manure. 
The  house  to  house  inspection  b}r  the  Bureau  of  Health,  which  the  papers  in- 
form us  is  now  going  on,  will  probably  result  in  the  cleaning  out  of  this  as 
well  as  of  other  equally  foul  cellars,  but  how  long  will  it  be  before  the  same 
condition  prevails  again?  There  is  a  homely  saying  that  "one  keep  clean  is 
worth  a  dozen  make  cleans."  And  no  annual  inspection,  however  thorough, 
can  take  the  place  of  a  daily  removal  of  refuse  and  manure. 

We  are  glad  to  record  a  great  improvement  in  public  sentiment  since  our 
last  annual  meeting.  The  fear  of  cholera  has  come  to  our  aid,  and  we  have 
succeeded  in  getting  good  garbage  removal  ordinances  before  the  councils  of 
both  cities.  The  Pittsburg  ordinance  was  drawn  up  by  Mr. Crosby  Gray, 
long  health  officer  of  this  city,  and  was  submitted  to  a  committee  composed 
of  three  members  of  the  Health  Association,  three  from  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, and  several  from  the  Council  committees  of  Public  Safety.  All  the 
amendments  proposed  by  the  ladies  were  accepted.  The  ordinance  as  it  now 
stands  provides  for  the  removal  of  garbage  from  every  household  every  day 
during  the  months  of  May,  June,  July,  August  and  September,  and  twice  a 
week  during  the  remaining  months  of  the  year.  Householders  must  keep  their 
refuse  in  tightly  covered  metal  cans  provided  for  the  purpose,  and  it  will  be 
removed  in  odorless  sanitary  street  carts  such  as  are  in  use  in  Washington, 
Baltimore  and  Detroit 

This  ordinance  does  not  provide  for  the  final  disposition  of  the  garbage, 
though  our  committee  succeeded  in  inserting  a  clause  which  stipulates  that  it 
shall  be  disposed  of  in  a  sanitary  manner,  and  that  means,  if  it  means  anything, 
that  it  shall  not  be  thrown  into  the  river.  The  Alleghany  ordinance  is  more 
complete  than  the  one  on  this  side  of  the  river,  inasmuch  as  it  provides  for  the 
erection  of  more  garbage  furnaces,  and  the  destruction  of  all  refuse  by  fire. 
It  is  hoped  that  these  ordinances  will  pass  in  time. to  go  into  effect  this  sum- 
mer. But  even  should  they  pass  and  be  strictly  enforced,  let  no  one  think 
that  our  work  for  municipal  cleanliness  is  ended.  We  must  have  laws 
prohibiting  the  throwing  upon  the  street  or  pavement  of  litter  or  refuse  of 
any  kind,  fruit  skins,  straw  or  torn  paper,  since  all  these  are  not  only 
unsightly,  but  decay,  and  furnish  food  for  the  germs  of  Zymotic  diseases. 
Storekeepers  must  not  be  allowed  to  brush  their  sweepings  out  upon  the  pave- 
ment, but  must  lift  them  and  put  them  into  the  garbage  box  to  be  removed 
by  the  daily  collector. 


20 


The  street-cleaning  laws  must  be  amended  to  the  block  system,  under 
whose  methodical  working  the  streets  of  London,  Paris,  Berlin  and  Rome  are 
kept  in  such  excellent  condition.  The  Women's  Health  Protective  Associa- 
tion of  New  York,  succeeded,  last  summer,  in  having  this  block  system 
adopted  by  the  authorities.  The  requisite  ordinances  were  passed,  but  no 
attempt  has  as  yet  been  made  to  put  them  into  execution.  But  perhaps  it  is 
too  much  to  expect  from  our  masculine  housekeepers  that  they  shall  pass  a 
sanitary  ordinance  and  enforce  it  in  the  same  year.  Their  assimilative  powers 
are  feeble,  and  they  have  to  take  their  doses  of  cleanliness  in  homeopathic 
quantities. 

Still,  notwithstanding  all  drawbacks,  the  outlook  for  daily  garbage  removal 
is  steadily  brightening,  and  we  confidently  hope  that  our  next  annual  report 
will  be  able  to  give  an  account  of  the  perfect  working  of  the  new  garbage 
law. 

The  necessity  for  the  purification  of  our  water  supply  is  being  so  effec- 
tively agitated  by  the  Engineers'  Society,  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  the 
Pittsburg  Dispatch,  that  we  have  felt  it  unnecessary  to  take  up  that  particular 
phase  of  municipal  cleanliness.  It  may  not  be  amiss,  however,  to  say  that 
two  years  ago  we  had  quite  a  correspondence  with  the  State  Board  of  Health 
on  the  subject  of  the  pollution  of  the  Alleghany  river.  We  also  urged  our 
local  Board  of  Health  to  do  all  in  their  power  to  prevent  the  dumping  of 
city  refuse  into  the  river.  Their  answer  was  characteristic:  "Other  cities 
throw  their  garbage  into  the  rivers,  and  why  should  we  be  more  fastidious 
than  our  neighbors?" 

When  we  think  that  the  whole  community  is  now  aroused  upon  the 
horrible  impurities  in  the  Alleghany  river,  we  can  see  what  an  advance  there 
has  been  in  public  sentiment  during  the  last  two  years. 

Cholera  is  a  great  educator. 

The  smoke  nuisance  has  received  no  small  amount  of  our  attention  during 
the  past  year.  We  have  to  record  a  growing  interest  in  the  matter  of  smoke 
prevention,  and  a  constantly  increasing  number  of  smoke  preventing  appli 
ances  in  use.  We  have  continued  our  correspondence  with  the  anti  smoke 
societies  of  Chicago,  Cleveland  and  St.  Louis,  and  have  kept  ourselves  and 
the  public  fully  informed  on  all  that  has  been  accomplished  in  these  cities. 
We  can  record  no  new  invention  that  can  be  depended  upon  to  reduce  the 
smoke  of  a  rolling  mill  or  a  puddling  furnace,  but  the  past  twelve  months 
have  served  to  give  additional  proof  that  smoke  from  stationary  boilers  can 
be  reduced  fully  90  per  cent,  with  positive  profit  to  the  producers.  So 
many  Alleghany  citizens  are  convinced  of  this  fact  that  there  is  an  ordinance 
before  their  councils  prohibiting  the  emission  of  smoke  from  stationary 
boilers  and  locomotives,  and  should  the  ordinance  pass,  the  present  energetic 
administration  of  our  sister  city  may  be  trusted  to  see  that  it  will  be  enforced. 

The  Pittsburg  ordinance,  prohibiting  the  emission  of  smoke  from  any 
stack  in  the  East  End,  went  into  effect  last  September,  but  no  visible  effort 
has  yet  been  made  to  carry  out  its  provisions.  The  ordinance  is  most  lamely 
drawn  up,  for  though  it  prohibits  smoke  in  no  uncertain  language,  it  leaves 
its  enforcement  to  the  discretion  of  the  Department  of  Public  Works.  The 
present  chief  of  that  department  is  known  to  be  a  friend  to  the  anti-smoke 
movement,  but  being  a  busy  man,  he  has  let  what  he  may  do,  wait  upon  what 
he  must,  and  hence,  beyond  equipping  the  city  water  works  with  a  fairly  suc- 
cessful appliance,  he  has  done  nothing  toward  freeing  the  East  End  of  a  nui- 
sance that  threatens  destruction  to  all  the  beautiful  residences  in  its  limits.  Our 


21 


complaints  that  the  law  is  daily  and  hourly  violated  have  met  with  a 
courteous  hearing,  but  nothing  has  been  done.  Finding  no  redress  in  the 
Department  of  Public  Works,  we  decided  to  test  the  ordinance  by  making 
the  necessary  information  before  an  alderman.  That  plan  also  failed,  for  the 
alderman  professed  ignorance  of  the  law,  refused  judgment,  and  passed  the 
matter  on  to  the  city  attorney.  The  only  way  left  is  to  take  the  matter  to 
the  courts,  and  that,  on  the  advice  of  our  friends,  we  have  decided  to  do. 
We  shall  make  a  test  case,  and  have  selected  the  power  house  of  the 
Duquesne  Traction  Co.,  as  possessing  the  most  valuable  points  of  attack,  as 
by  reason  of  its  location  it  violates  the  common  law  and  two  city  ordinances. 
Moreover  it  is  operated  by  a  powerful  corporation,  and  if  we  succeed  in 
stopping  its  smoke,  it  will  be  an  easy  matter  to  see  that  smaller  affairs  obey 
the  law. 

We  especially  desire  that  the  public  shall  know  that  the  Duquesne  Trac- 
tion Co.  need  be  put  to  no  expense  in  stopping  their  smoke.  The  agent  of 
one  of  the  most  successful  devices  in  the  market,  one  highly  recommended  in 
Chicago  and  St.  Louis,  has  offered  to  equip  this  powerhouse  with  his  furnace, 
and  take  his  pay  as  the  coal  is  saved.  There  need  not  be  a  cent  of  actual 
outlay  to  the  company.  Of  course,  it  will  require  money  to  test  this  matter 
in  the  courts,  and  our  success  will  depend  upon  the  liberality  of  the  friends 
of  a  pure  atmosphere. 

There  are  laws  in  Pittsburg  and  Alleghany,  as  well  as  in  Chicago,  prohibit- 
ing engines  from  emitting  black  smoke  within  certain  limits,  but  the  railway 
companies  refuse  to  obey  them,  and  the  authorities  are  timorous  about 
enforcing  them.  Last  May,  at  the  request  of  the  department  of  public  works, 
we  handed  in  a  list  of  engines  that  had  violated  the  law,  but  no  action  has  yet 
been  taken.  The  Junction  Road,  after  having  been  smokeless  for  exactly  a 
year,  has  begun  to  use  soft  coal  again.  We  have  put  the  matter  in  the  hands 
of  our  attorney,  and  doubtless  it  will  be  speedily  settled,  as  the  use  of  soft 
coal  is  expressly  forbidden  by  the  company's  charter. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  know  that  the  very  successful  smoke  preventative 
in  use  on  the  Illinois  Central  railroad  costs  but  $40  an  engine,  and  its  equip- 
ment takes  but  one  day's  time. 

We  have,  during  the  past  year,  continued  our  endeavors  to  persuade  the 
street  car  and  steam  car  companies  to  post  signs  in  all  their  cars  and  stations 
urging  thoughtless  men  to  refrain  from  expectorating  upon  the  floor.  The 
Alleghany  Valley  and  the  Pan  Handle  roads  have  acceded  to  our  request  to 
the  extent  of  placing  signs  in  the  station  houses,  though  in  the  cars  men 
are  still  permitted  to  be  as  uncleanly  as  they  please.  Signs  have  been  hung 
in  most  of  the  street  cars,  and  it  is  the  testimony  of  those  who  use  the  cars 
daily  that  a  decided  improvement  is  noticeable.  When  we  think  that  two 
years  ago  there  was  scarcely  one  such  sign  in  the  city,  and  women  and  cleanly 
men  simply  sat  and  suffered  in  silence,  whereas  now  when  the  sign  is  lacking, 
or  its  admonition  disregarded  there  is  open  and  audible  displeasure,  we  must 
admit  that  public  sentiment  has  progressed. 

It  is  pleasant  to  record  that  this  particular  branch  of  our  work  for  clean- 
liness has  received  the  most  emphatic  endorsement  from  the  medical 
profession. 

Dr.  Pruden  of  New  York,  asked  not  long  ago  through  the  columns  of  the 
Medical  Record,  "  cannot  associations  be  formed  throughout  the  country  for 
the  purpose  of  persuading  the  public  to  refrain  from  the  offensive  and  disease 
breeding  habit  of  expectoration.  "    On  learning  that  the  Health  Association 


22 


of  this  city  had  had  the  temerity  to  begin  this  needed  reform,  the  Medical 
Record  gave  us  a  column  of  thanks  and  encouragement.  Other  medical 
journals  of  equal  prominence  have  given  us  unstinted  praise,  and  we  have 
received  letters  of  congratulation  and  endorsement  from  physicians  in  a  dozen 
different  States. 

One  doctor  calls  this  the  "  greatest  reform  of  the  age.  "  The  medical  pro- 
fession having  taken  so  decided  a  stand,  there  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  final 
result.  The  practice  is  objected  to  not  merely  because  it  is  vulgar  and  offen- 
sive, but  because  of  the  contagion  that  emanates  from  it.  One-seventh  of 
the  adult  population  of  Pennsylvania  have  consumption,  and  there  are  more 
deaths  from  tuberculosis  in  its  various  forms,  than  from  all  other  diseases 
combined.  Even  cholera  can  claim  no  such  ghastly  harvests  as  are  reaped 
by  this  great  white  plague.  And  yet  its  prevention  is  so  easy,  simply  that 
all  discharges  from  the  mouth  shall  be  disinfected,  or,  still  better,  burned. 
What  is  the  hygienic  condition  of  a  crowded  street  car,  or  theatre,  or  what 
proportion  of  consumption  germs  are  floating  around  in  the  atmosphere  above 
our  streets? 

We  really  eat,  drink  and  breathe  tuberculosis.  Fruit  and  vegetables 
exposed  for  sale  on  fruit  stands  and  in  the  market  have  been  washed,  and  the 
washings  being  submitted  to  the  proper  tests  have  revealed  the  countless 
germs  of  tuberculosis.  The  germs  of  scarlet  fever,  diphtheria,  and  all  the 
various  affections  of  the  throat  can  also  be  propagated  by  means  of  the  expect- 
oration; have  we  not  abundant  reason,  in  view  of  all  this,  for  our  protest 
against  this  prevailing  habit? 

It  is,  as  yet,  useless  to  invoke  legislation  for  our  protection;  the  reform  is 
still  in  an  educational  stage,  and  to  make  it  effective  we  must  begin  with 
the  .children.  We  have,  therefore,  had  some  notices  prepared  for  us  by  the 
State  Board  of  Health,  calling  attention  to  the  contagion  and  disease  that  re- 
sult from  this  habit,  and  through  the  co-operation  of  Superintendent  Lucky, 
have  had  them  hung  in  all  the  public  school  rooms  in  Pittsburg.  The 
Superintendent  of  Alleghany  schools  declined  to  put  them  up.  We  hope  that 
continued  importunity  may  induce  him  to  change  his  mind.  These  signs  are 
also  hanging  in  the  Western  University,  and  in  other  boys'  schools  through- 
out the  city.  We  should  like  to  hang  these  notices  in  the  street  cars  as  a 
regular  advertisement,  but  have  been  prevented  by  the  expense,  which  is 
2  cents  a  car  per  day.  Contributions  for  this  purpose  will  be  gladly  received. 
The  signs  that  now  hang  in  the  cars  were  placed  there  only  after  continued 
entreaty  from  the  members  of  the  Health  Association.  No  one  but  the 
committees  who  have  done  the  work  have  any  idea  of  the  persistence  that  has 
been  required.  It  is  hard  to  understand  why  the  railway  companies  should  be 
reluctant  to  aid  in  securing  the  comfort  of  cleanliness  for  their  passengers. 
Smoking  is  vigorously  and  effectually  prohibited,  and  it  is  useless  to  say  that 
this  still  more  offensive  habit  cannot  be  regulated. 

It  is  an  encouraging  sign  of  the  times  that  the  town  of  Wiesbaden  has 
forbidden  all  public  expectoration  except  into  receptacles  filled  with  bichlor- 
ide of  mercury,  which  will  be  placed  along  the  streets  at  certain  intervals. 
The  Indiana  State  Board  of  Health  introduced  a  bill  into  the  legislature  last 
winter  requiring  all  public  conveyances  through  the  State  to  carry  vessels  of 
bi-chloride  of  mercury  into  which  passengers  should  be  compelled  to 
expectorate,  but  the  bill  was  promptly  thrown  out,  the  legislators  feeling 
that  it  interfered  with  the  dearest  privilege  of  the  American  citizen.  The 
Health  Association  needs  the  assistance  of  every  woman  in  Alleghany  county. 


23 


Cleanliness  is  not  only  next  to  godliness,  it  is  inherent  in  godliness.  No 
uncleanly  man  can  be  a  gentleman  and  a  Christian,  no  dirty  city  can  reach  a 
high  plane  of  moral  or  artistic  excellence.  Pittsburg  is  said  to  lack  in  public 
spirit,  if  this  be  true,  is  it  not  owning  to  the  depressing  influence  of  our  en- 
vironment of  dirt. 

In  conclusion  we  wish  to  extend  our  hearty  thanks  to  the  gentlemen  of  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  for  their  cordial  co  operation,  as  well  as  to  the  daily 
press,  without  whose  generous  assistance  much  of  the  work  would  have  been 
unavailing.  Our  report  would  be  incomplete  without  an  expression  of  the 
thanks  we  owe  to  Mayor  Kennedy  for  his  courteous  reception  of  our  petitions, 
and  his  constant  endeavor  to  further  the  reforms  we  have  suggested.  His 
administration  inspires  the  belief  that  even  a  man  may  learn  to  recognize  dirl 
when  he  sees  it. 

IMOGENE  B.  OAKLEY, 

Secretary. 

This  was  followed  by  the  report  of  the  Plainfield  and  North 
Plainfield  Town  Improvement  Society,  Mrs.  E.  M.  McCarthy, 
President. 

The  society  was  represented  by  Mrs.  Alexander  Gilbert  and 
Mrs.  David  W.  Pond,  who  gave  a  verbal  report. 

Mrs.  Gilbert  said  that  she  did  not  come  to  this  meeting  intending  to  speak 
at  all,  but  simply  as  a  sponge  to  absorb  the  good  suggestions  made  by  others, 
and  carry  them  home  for  the  benefit  of  the  society.  Mrs.  Pond  said  that 
like  all  new  movements,  a  great  many  plans  had  been  offered  for  work,  and  it 
would  be  much  easier  to  tell  what  they  were  not  going  to  do,  than  to  enumer- 
ate the  different  schemes  for  improvement  and  benefit  to  the  city.  Mrs. 
Scrimgeour  of  Brooklyn,  and  Mrs.  Scribner  of  Philadelphia,  had  addressed  a 
meeting  and  given  great  pleasure.  Mrs.  Gilbert,  who  is  treasurer  of  the 
society,  spoke  of  the  necessity  of  collecting  lubricating  oil  with  which  to 
make  the  machinery  run  well  when  once  started,  by  procuring  members  and 
especially  their  contributions. 

"  The  membership  fee  is  fifty  cents  a  year,  so  that  every  woman  is  able  to 
join  in  the  w*rk  and  take  an  interest  in  the  town.  We  have  all  the  usual 
committees, the  Outlook  Committee,  Committees  on  Parks  and  Trees,  Streets, 
Railroad  Stations  and  Trolleys.  Humane,  Children's  Auxiliary,  Prevention  of 
Cruelty  to  Children,  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals,  and  Press.  The 
latter  has  the  privilege  of  filling  half  a  column  once  a  week  in  each  of  the 
daily  papers.  As  our  city  now  numbers  about  18,000  inhabitants,  our  Parks 
and  Trees  Committee  is  trying  to  select  in  time,  and  hold,  appropriate  plots  of 
ground  for  drinking  fountains  and  parks,  before  they  are  occupied  by  build- 
ings too  valuable  to  remove.  When  these  breathing  places  for  the  poor  are 
needed,  on  account  of  crowded  tenements  they  are  impossible  to  procure. 
This  committee  has  also  sole  supervision  of  spraying  the  elm  trees  to  destroy 


24 


the  beetles  which  prey  upon  them.  Ivy  and  woodbine  will  be  started  on 
the  stone  embankments  of  the  railroad  bridges,  and  a  prize  is  to  be  offered  for 
the  best  kept  back  yard  on  the  railroad. 

A  circular  letter  will  also  be  sent  to  bicycle  clubs  asking  for  the  help  of 
members  in  reporting  the  condition  of  roads,  and  suggesting  improvments  in 
the  suburbs.  All  literature  belonging  to  the  society  will  be  donated  to  the 
public  library,  and  be  placed  upon  a  shelf  reserved  for  it." 

Mrs.  Pond  emphasized  particularly  the  work  of  the  Children's  Auxiliary 
Committee.  '  'Here  is  our  greatest  hope,  for,  by  preventing  the  formation  of  bad 
habits,  and  by  teaching  children  to  respect  the  rights  of  others,  and  to  obey  the 
laws,  there  will  be  fewer  faults  to  correct  in  the  happy  future,  to  which 
we  all  are  looking  forward." 

The  Montclair  Women's  Town  Improvement  Association, 
represented  by  Mrs.  Frank  A.  Hall,  gave  the  next  report : 

The  Town  Improvement  Association  of  Montclair,  N.  J.,  was  formed  just 
after  the  epidemic  of  typhoid  fever  swept  over  the  town,  carrying  desolation 
into  many  homes.  A  free  ventilation  of  the  causes  that  led  to  it  settled  in 
the  minds  of  many  women,-  as  a  fact,  what  before  had  been  a  vague  feeling, 
that  the  men  of  the  town  were  hardly  ideal  municipal  housekeepers  ;  and 
with  their  usual  willingness,  the  women  determined  to  help,  consequently 
formed  this  Association,  one  object  of  which  is,  as  the  Constitution  says  : 
"  to  protect  the  health  of  the  people  of  Montclair,  by  taking  such  action  from 
time  to  time,  as  may  secure  the  enforcement  of  existing  sanitary  laws  and 
regulations,  by  calling  the  attention  of  the  proper  authorities  to  any  violation 
thereof,  and  to  procure  the  amendment  of  said  laws  and  regulations,  where 
they  shall  be  found  inadequate  for  the  prevention  of  acts  injurious  to  the 
public  health." 

The  Committee  which  carries  out  this  branch  of  the  work,  planned  by  the 
originators  of  the  Association,  is  called  the  Sanitary  Committee. 

The  Executive  Board  wisely  appointed  as  Chairman,  the  wife  of  the 
President  of  the  Health  Board,  which  has  proved  a  success,  as  much  has  been 
accomplished  with  a  minimum  of  delay.  As  it  came  into  existence  it  was 
met  by  numberless  complaints  of  promiscuous  dumping  of  garbage,  uncon- 
genial odors  in  many  localities,  and  flagrant  abuses  of  such  laws  as  then 
existed.  These  were  reported  to  the  Health  Board,  who,  it  may  be  here 
stated,  had  extended  a  cordial  invitation  to  the  members  of  the  Committee  to 
be  present  at  their  meetings  for  mutual  consultation  and  understanding,  and 
they  immediately  added  many  necessary  ordinances  and  enforced  those  exist- 
ing better  than  heretofore. 

The  report  of  the  Chairman  at  the  first  semi-annual  meeting  showed  a 
decided  decrease  in  complaints  and  an  increase  in  the  healthfulness  of  the 
town  surroundings.  One  special  menace  to  health  was  a  once  beautiful  stream 
which  wended  its  way  through  our  cluster  of  homes.  It  had  become  so  by 
the  temptation  which  it  offered  to  some  short- sighted  householders,  devoid  of 


25 

consciences,  to  use  it  as  a  natural  sewer,  until  many  of  those  who  breathed 
the  unpleasant  odors  felt  like  exclaiming,  as  did  Coleridge  of  the  city  of 
Cologne  : 

"  The  river  Rhine,  it  is  well  known, 
Doth  wash  your  city  of  Cologne  ; 
But  tell  me  nymphs,  what  power  divine 
Shall  thenceforth  wash  your  river  Rhine  ?  " 

This  stream  was  closely  inspected,  and,  as  far  as  possible,  the  nuisance 
abated,  and  it  doubtless  hastened  the  proper  sewerage  of  the  town,  which 
fortunately,  was  commenced  almost  immediately,  and  to  day  none  can  criticise 
Montclair's  sanitary  condition  on  that  point. 

But  so  far  we  have  been  unable  to  entirely  control  the  promiscuous  dump- 
ing of  garbage.  As  it  costs  five,  ten  or  fifteen  cents  per  barrel  to  have  it 
removed  by  licensed  scavengers,  it  is  possible  to  understand  why  the 
occupants  of  tenement  houses,  if  undetected,  place  it,  unburied,  in  vacant  lots, 
as  they  have  not  money  to  spend  in  that  way,  and  must  dispose  of  it,  but 
when  people  of  ample  means  are  discovered  in  the  act,  we  are  confronted 
with  that  problem  of  to-day,  viz  :  the  great  lack  of  public  spirit,  public 
pride  and  public  conscience. 

That  the  growth  of  these  qualities  will  come  in  the  future  through  the 
workings  of  associations  like  yours  and  ours,  is  our  hope  and  belief.  We,  in 
Montclair,  call  it  "newer  patriotism." 

While  we  hope  and  believe,  we  are  watching  to  see  what  you  will  do  here 
in  New  York  about  the  disposal  of  garbage,  and  we  want,  as  soon  as 
possible,  to  have  our  town  collect  and  dispose  of  household  waste.  That 
there  is  a  scientific  method  there  can  be  no  doubt.  Find  it  and  lead  us  in 
the  right  way. 

One  word  about  our  milk  supply.  As  the  milk  brought  into  the  town,  by 
one  particular  milkman  was  the  cause  of  the  typhoid  epidemic  two  years  ago, 
and  as  this  particular  matter  was  settled  by  the  town  authorities,  the  Town 
Improvement  Association  did  nothing  concerning  the  milk  supply,  at  first, 
but  a  little  later  it  was  deemed  a  part  of  the  duty  of  the  Association  to  see  in  * 
what  coudition  the  dairies,  supplying  the  town,  were  kept.  Accordingly, 
some  were  visited  by  a  member  of  the  Association  and  a  veterinarian  of  the 
town,  noted  for  his  honest  interest  in  its  welfare.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  laws  are  scanty  enough  in  this  direction,  however  redundant  they  are  in 
others.  They  found  that  dairymen  may  feed  their  cows  wherever  they  wish  ; 
it  may  be  good  or  bad  drainage  where  cows  drink.  Stables  and  barn-yards 
may  be  good,  bad  or  indifferent,  as  chance  may  make  it  or  the  convenience  of 
the  owner  dictates.  Bottles  may  be  washed  out  once  or  many  times  and  may 
dry  in  the  stable  or  wherever  it  is  most  convenient.  Cleanliness  cometh  not 
as  a  requirement  of  the  law.  If  you  find  a  clean  dairy,  it  is  because  the 
dairyman  happens  to  have  that  highly  to  be- desired  quality,  in  this  business 
of  all  others,  natural  cleanliness. 

That  a  cow  shall  be  looked  over  once  a  year,  is  all  that  our  wise  legislators 
ask  to-day  :  that  the  milk  of  the  dairy  shall  be  inspected,  none  too  closely,  is 
all  that  is  required  by  those  people  who  hold  our  lives  in  the  hollow  of  their 
hands,  as  far  as  this  part  of  their  preservation  is  concerned,  and  it  is  an 
important  part. 

But  now  we  know  that  the  people  of  Montclair  need  have  no  milk  served 
them,  but  perfectly  safe  milk,  if  they  so  will  it,  for  there  are  men  who  are 


26 

reliable  and  who  do  far  more  than  the  law  demands,  and  will  supply  the 
people  of  our  town  who  are  sensible  enough  to  choose  the  milk  from  model 
dairies. 

As  long  as  the  law  does  not  support  the  Town  Improvement  Association  in 
requiring  from  dairymen  what  any  good  housekeeper  would  suggest  in- 
stantly, upon  inspecting  the  usual  type  of  dairies,  all  we  can  do  we  have 
done.  It  is  this  :  we  have  made  a  list  of  all  the  dairies  supplying  the  town, 
and  this,  with  a  map  upon  which  is  marked  the  location  of  every  one,  is 
deposited  with  the  Town  Clerk  for  public  use,  and  can  always  be  seen  at  his 
office.  This  fact  has  been  given  every  publicity  in  the  public  press,  and 
housekeepers  have  been  advised  to  pay  a  visit  to  the  dairy  from  which  comes 
the  milk  used  by  them.  This  is  not  a  difficult  task  ;  it  is  easy  to  accomplish 
in  these  days  of  wheels  and  trolleys. 

It  then  rests  with  them  whether  they  will  accept  milk  from  a  dairy  where 
perfect  cleanliness  is  observed,  or  from  one  where  it  is  totally  neglected. 

The  Town  Improvement  Association  and  the  Health  Board  have  both  done 
all  the  law  allows.  And  now,  as  we  thank  you  for  inviting  us  here  to  day, 
we  wish  to  tell  you  that  many  times  your  "  Health  Protective  Association  " 
has  been  to  us  a  great  incentive  and  inspiration. 

Very  respectfully  submitted, 

MARY  R.  HALL, 

Delegate  from  the  Town  Improvement  Association  of  Montclair,  N.  J. 

Mrs.  Trautmann  here  remarked  that  the  trouble  in  Montclair 
over  the  milk  supply  had  given  a  stimulus  to  the  New  York 
Society,  and  spoke  of  the  work  done  in  Hudson  County. 

The  Report  of  the  Health  Protective  Committee  of  the 
"Jersey  City  Women's  Club  was  then  read  by  Miss  Celia  Gaines. 

The  Health  Protective  Committee  of  the  Jersey  City  Woman's  Club  was 
organized  two  years  ago.  Its  object,  as  announced  at  the  first  meeting, 
was  to  popularize  scientific  knowledge  on  health  topics,  so  that  all  might 
have  the  benefit  of  the  truth  acquired  by  patient  study  and  learned  from 
experience,  and  we  hoped,  through  an  enlightened  public  sentiment,  to  effect 
some  lasting  reforms  in  hygiene.  Such  changes,  like  all  educational  pro- 
cesses, must,  from  their  nature,  be  slow,  as  they  require  for  their  success 
the  growth  and  development  of  the  individual,  so  that  in  reviewing  the 
work  accomplished  we  have  sometimes  felt  discouraged  that  more  had  not 
been  done  ;  but.,  believing  as  we  do,  that  no  good  work  is  lost,  we  have 
gone  forward  on  several  different  lines,  trusting  that  any  seed  sown  would 
eventually  bring  forth  its  appropriate  harvest,  and  that  we  might,  in  some 
small  degree,  help  to  ameliorate  the  evils  which  we  deplore. 

In  looking  over  the  field  to  see  where  to  begin,  we  experienced  some 
difficulty  in  deciding  which  was  the  most  important  work  to  be  done,  and 
in  what  way  we  could  best  remedy  those  evils  whose  beginnings  are  so  far 


27 


back  and  whose  results  last  so  long  and  are  so  terrible.  The  difficulties  in 
the  way,  would,  we  fear,  have  deterred  us,  if  we  had  not  realized  that  there 
is  no  safety  in  sitting  quietly  at  our  ease,  while  "the  whole  creation  groans 
and  travails  in  pain,"  trusting  that  Evolution  will  bring  about  a  happy 
solution  of  the  problems  without  our  assistance,  for  here,  as  everywhere, 
the  selfishness  which  forgets  others,  defeats  itself,  and  effectually  destroys 
the  ability  to  enjoy  life's  blessing,  and  hinders  progress. 

Believing  these  fundamental  truths,  we  have  worked  for  the  enlightenment 
of  our  own  members  and  endeavored  to  awaken  an  interest  in  these  subjects, 
which,  to  us,  seem  of  vital  importance. 

We  have  had  lectures  on  hygienic  subjects,  some  of  which  were,  "  The 
Effect  of  Food  and  Drink  on  Health  and  Morals,"  which  included  the 
Temperance  Question;  and,  "The  Purification  of  Water  by  Filtration  and 
other  means,"  by  a  distinguished  chemist,  and  the  difficulty  and  importance 
of  procuring  a  healthful  supply  for  cities.  Also,  "The  Need  of  Light,  Sun 
and  Air  in  the  Schools  and  Homes." 

A  petition  was  circulated  and  signed  by  our  members,  and  by  over  one 
thousand  well-known  citizens,  urging  the  Board  of  Education  to  consider 
the  great  need  of  a  new  High  School  Building,  which  would  furnish 
better  sanitary  conditions  for  our  children. 

We  considered  the  sanitary  disposition  of  refuse,  and  had  a  lecture  on  the 
latest  methods  of  disposing  of  ashes,  refuse,  etc. 

We  have  studied  the  practical  use  of  disinfectants,  and  how  to  prevent 
contagious  diseases,  and  have  distributed  the  circulars  issued  by  the  State 
Board  of  Health  on  these  subjects. 

Especial  attention  has  been  given  to  a  consideration  of  the  best  way  to 
help  those  who  are  mothers  but  not  wives,  as  well  as  those  still  more  un- 
fortunate and  even  more  to  be  pitied,  who  have  given  themselves  up  to 
lives  of  shame  and  are  outcasts,  as  they  are  a  constant  menace  to  the  health 
and  happiness  of  the  community.  This  class  needs  to  be  considered,  both 
for  sanitary  and  ethical  reasons,  as  no  system  of  ethics  is  complete  which 
fails  to  take  into  account  these  unhappy  women,  and  no  sanitary  reform 
can  safely  ignore  them.  For  society  is  bound  together  by  ties  which  we 
cannot  sever,  and  the  disease  and  degradation  of  one  class  injures  all. 

We  have  studied  the  subject  of  Heredity  and  the  duties  wThich  women 
owe  to  the  race  of  which  they  are  mothers,  as  we  realize  that  they  can  no 
longer  innocently  shelter  themselves  behind  their  ignorance,  until  they  have 
at  least  tried  to  understand  some  of  the  laws  on  which  health  and  happiness 
depend. 

Goethe,  in  closing  his  great  drama  of  Faust,  says:  "The  womanly 
soul  leads  us  upicard  and  on." 

Let  us  hope  that  the  higher  education  and  broader  culture  now  vouchsafed 
to  women,  may  enable  them  to  more  worthily  fill  the  high  vocation  to 
which  the  great  poet  declares  that  nature  has  called  them,  so  that  they  may 
avoid  some  of  the  mistakes  and  dangers  of  former  days ;  and  let  us  trust 
that  the  search-light  of  their  sympathetic  intelligence  may  irradiate  the 
dark  problems  which  are  now  the  despair  of  philanthropists,  and  an 
acknowledged  blot  on  our  civilization. 

M.  F.  De  HART,  Chairman. 

Jersey  City,  N.  J. 


2b 


This  interesting  paper  was  followed  by  the  report  of  the 
Indianapolis  Sanitary  Association,  which  was  read  by  Mrs. 
Emily  Wakeman,  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  Ladies 
Health  Protective  Association,  as  Mrs.  Haldeman  of  Indian- 
apolis could  not  be  present. 

The  Indianapolis  Sanitary  Association  was  organized  January,  1893,  "to 
promote  general  sanitation  by  increasing  public  interest  in  the  prevention  of 
disease,  and  by  aiding  the  City  Government  in  the  enforcement  of  its  sanitary 
ordinances." 

From  the  first  we  have  worked  in  connection  with  the  Board  of  Health. 
The  appointment  of  a  sanitarian  in  the  past  year,  we  regard  as  the  greatest 
impetus  city  sanitation  has  received.  In  our  work  we  recognize  neither 
politics,  religion  nor  color.  For  the  purpose  of  creating  a  local  interest  and 
more  thorough  investigation  of  the  city,  we  have  aimed  to  organize  ward 
societies.  We  have  standing  committees  on  school  houses,  clean  sidewalks 
and  public  buildings,  clean  streets,  market  houses,  park,  hospital  and 
dispensaries,  and  on  law  and  literature  pertaining  to  sanitation. 

Without  being  distinctly  organized  for  charitable  purposes,  we  have  been 
able  to  reach  out  and  do  much  to  better  the  sanitary  condition  of  the  poor  and 
needy,  and  our  best  work  has  been  done  among  the  less  fortunate. 

One  instance  of  this,  is  that  of  a  wealthy  property  owner  who  refused  to 
repair  the  vaults  and  clean  the  wells  belonging  to  his  tenement  houses,  until 
the  Sanitary  Association  brought  its  influence  to  bear  upon  him  :  The  result 
was  that  a  hundred  tenants  were  made  glad  by  having  one  hundred  wells 
and  vaults  put  in  good  condition. 

Our  policy  has  not  been  aggressive  ;  we  have  worked  conjointly  with 
existing  "Boards  and  often  at  their  suggestion. 

The  members  of  the  Association  are  expected  to  go  about  the  city  with 
seeing  eyes,  and  report  to  the  Recording  Secretary  anything  unsightly,  or 
that  is  a  menace  to  health.  The  Recording  Secretary  fills  out  prepared 
blanks,  which  are  sent  to  the  City  Sanitarian,  who  gives  them  to  the  Inspectors. 
The  Inspector,  after  investigating  the  nuisance  and  ordering  it  abated,  writes 
his  comments  on  the  back  of  the  complaint  and  returns  it  to  the  Recording 
Secretary,  so  that  we  have  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  exactly  what  has 
been  done  about  the  nuisance.  The  complaints  are  all  numbered  and 
recorded. 

About  the  time  of  the  cholera  scare,  we  had  suggestions  on  peaceful  minds, 
plenty  of  fresh  air  and  sunshine,  disinfectants,  whitewash,  cleanliness, 
regular  habits,  food  and  morals  printed  on  cards  and  distributed  among  the 
school  children.  We  have  done  much  educational  work,  by  articles  in  the 
newspapers  on  sanitation  ;  through  talks  by  members  at  the  Free  Kinder- 
garten Mothers'  Meetings  ;  through  monthly  meetings  of  the  Association, 
open  to  the  public,  at  which  experts  have  given  most  valuable  lectures  ; 
through  evening  lectures,  to  which  guests  have  been  invited. 

We  do  not  allow  ourselves  to  become  faint-hearted  at  the  vast  amount  of 
work  undone,  by  the  thousand  and  one  things  we  are  powerless  to  help  or 
hinder,  at  the  apathy  of  ignorance  and  indifference.     Certainly  it  takes  a 


29 

long  time  to  mould  public  opinion.  We  are  pioneers  in  the  work,  and  we 
fully  realize  its  magnitude  and  great  possibilities,  and  we  have  the  hope  that 
some  day  this  work  will  be  carried  out  in  great,  broad  lines,  systematically, 
and  with  all  the  light  that  modern  science  can  shed  upon  it. 

EMMA.  G.  HALDEMAN,  Cor.  Sec. 

Mrs.  Stillman,  of  Albany,  gave  an  interesting  account  of 
the  Committee  of  Sanitary  Improvement.    She  said  : 

The  sanitary  committee  of  Albany  came  into  existence  under  pressure  of  a 
definite  and  urgent  need. 

Disposal  of  Waste.—  During  the  cholera  scare  of  1892  a  recent  comer  to 
Albany  found  it  impossible  to  dispose  of  the  waste  of  her  household.  After 
trying  every  means  at  her  command,  the  Board  of  Health  and  the  mayor's 
office  were  visited,  only  to  learn  that  for  years  the  city  had  not  appropriated  a 
dollar  for  the  care  and  disposal  of  its  garbage.  Private  collectors  had  called 
for  it  in  streets  where  it  paid  them  to  come,  and  if  they  were  ill  or  for  any 
reason  stopped  coming,  there  was  absolutely  no  means  of  redress.  In  answer 
to  the  question  as  to  how  this  evil  could  be  remedied,  it  was  suggested  that  a 
petition  to  the  city  authorities  before  the  annual  budget  was  voted  on,  might 
create  a  public  sentiment  and  bring  about  a  reform. 

This  was  undertaken  in  the  autumn,  involving  an  immense  amount  of  detail 
in  interviewing  members  of  the  board  of  health,  leading  physicians,  Aldermen, 
Corporation  Council  and  other  leading  public  officials,  clergymen  and  Catholic 
priests  (some  of  whom  were  specially  helpful  in  securing  names  in  their 
wards).  A  public  meeting  was  held,  the  matter  was  much  discussed  in  the 
newspapers,  and  there  was  considerable  opposition  from  politicians  and 
conservative  taxpayers.  A  petition  of  several  thousand  names  was  presented 
to  the  Board  of  Finance  and  was  simply  "received  and  filed,"  the  funded 
debt  of  the  city  having  already  reached  the  limit  allowed  by  its  charter. 
The  next  step  was  to  introduce  a  bill  into  the  Legislature  authorizing  the 
city  to  add  to  its  funded  debt  for  the  purpose  of  erecting  a  crematory  or  other 
plant  for  the  disposal  of  waste,  etc. 

This  was  accomplished  the  following  year,  and  the  matter  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  Board  of  Health  to  investigate  existing  methods.  They  printed 
an  elaborate  report  the  next  June,  and  had  they  been  able  to  recommend  a 
definite  system  with  confidence,  the  appropriation  would  doubtless  have  been 
added  to  the  last  budget.  A  commissioner  appointed  by  the  mayor  of  New 
York  last  year  investigated  70  different  systems,  and  finally  reported  that  no 
perfect  method  for  the  disposal  of  garbage  had  been  found.  This  is  the 
great  sanitary  problem  of  cities  to-day,  but  it  may  be  true  that  any  method  is 
better  than  no  method  if  the  search  for  a  perfect  one  is  too  long  continued. 
A  reduction  process  now  being  tried  at  Rochester,  which  utilizes  the  waste 
for  fertilizer,  is  being  watched  with  interest  and  it  is  hoped  that  it  may  solve 
the  problem  for  Albany. 

Ice  Delivery. — The  method  of  ice  delivery  which  has  prevailed  in  our 
city  for  many  }7ears,  has  been  to  throw  the  ice  from  the  carts  as  they  pass 


30 


through  the  streets,  lauding  it  on  the  sidewalk  somewhere  near  the  basement 
steps  where  it  lies  sometimes  for  hours  for  pedestrians  to  stumble  over, 
forming  streams  and  pools  in  warm  weather  and  slippery  places  in  winter. 
The  dogs  often  defile  it,  it  slides  over  expectoration  (perhaps  of  tuberculosis) 
or  other  disease  germs,  and  dirt  of  all  kinds,  and  is  transferred  to  individual 
ice  boxes  as  cooks  chance  to  see  it  or  think  of  it. 

The  sanitary  committee  discovered  that  a  city  ordinance  against  this 
system  existed,  but  had  never  been  enforced.  When  the  petition  for  the  dis- 
posal of  garbage  was  circulated,  it  was  accompanied  by  a  paper  asking 
housekeepers  to  notify  their  ice  dealers  that  after  a  certain  date  no  ice  would 
be  paid  for  which  was  not  delivered  in  their  houses  where  specified.  Copies 
of  the  ordinance  were  mailed  to  every  ice  company  in  the  city,  with  a  courte- 
ous note  asking  their  co-operation  in  this  much  needed  reform.  The  daily 
newspapers  reprinted  these  circulars,  and  a  public  sentiment  was  aroused 
which  has  greatly  lessened  this  evil,  though  it  still  exists  where  housekeepers 
have  been  too  apathetic  or  indifferent  to  do  their  part,  some  dealers  having 
insisted  that  they  must  charge  an  extra  price  for  such  delivery. 

Unsanitary  Houses. — Much  complaint  was  made  that  nuisances  and 
houses  in  unsanitary  condition  which  were  reported  to  the  Board  of  Health 
received  no  attention,  though  repeated  appeals  were  made.  As  there  are  two 
sides  to  every  question,  and  these  complaints  were  often  anonymous  or  given 
with  insufficient  facts,  printed  blanks  were  prepared  by  this  committee  in 
consultation  with  the  Board  of  Health,  and  houses  reported  on  them  in 
counectiou  with  our  city  mission  work  (as  many  as  14  having  been  reported 
at  one  time)  have  received  prompt  attention,  and  an  officer  has  been  detailed 
at  once  to  examine  them. 

Milk  Supply. — Appeals  have  been  made  to  this  committee  regarding 
impure  milk  and  cream  supplies,  and  examinations  have  been  made  by  the 
dair}r  commission  under  the  state  department  of  agriculture  showing  that 
boracic  and  salicylic  acid  are  sometimes  used  by  dealers  and  restaurants  to 
keep  milk  from  souring,  and  that  these  substances  are  injurious  when  taken 
regularly  in  such  quantities  as  are  required  to  preserve  milk. 

Brewery  grains  are  also  widely  used  as  food  on  dairy  farms  in  the  vicinity 
of  Albany,  and  it  is  claimed  that  they  partially  intoxicate  the  cows  and  are 
very  injurious  to  the  milk  supply,  and  steps  are  being  taken  to  bring  about 
investigation  of  these  facts. 

Domestic  Economy — The  last  work  undertaken  by  this  committee  has 
been  rather  in  the  line  of  household  economics.  The  board  of  public 
instruction  was  asked  to  include  in  its  annual  budget  an  item  for  the 
introduction  of  instruction  in  cooking  in  the  public  schools.  While  express- 
ing much  interest  in  the  plan,  which  was  new  to  most  of  them,  they  failed  to 
provide  for  its  introduction  at  present,  on  the  ground  that  quite  an  addition  to 
their  appropriation  was  necessary  for  other  demands,  and  they  believed  the 
common  council  would  not  grant  so  large  a  sum,  and  that  also  the  time  was 
too  short  for  them  personally  to  investigate  the  work  as  carried  on  in  Boston 
and  other  cities.  Tue  committee  were  given  to  understand  by  several 
members  of  the  board  that  if  the  money  were  forthcoming  through  their 
efforts,  whether  by  private  subscription  or  otherwise,  the  work  would  be 
adopted.  A  public  hearing  was  asked  of  the  common  council.  This  was 
well  attended  by  representative  citizens,  and  an  appropriation  of  $1300  was 
granted  for  the  equipment  and  running  expenses  for  a  year  of  one  school 


31 


kitchen,  which,  being  centrally  located,  could  take  classes  from  at  least  six 
different  grammar  schools,  or  half  the  total  number  in  the  city. 

The  money  has  been  in  the  hands  of  the  board  since  January  1,  but  lapses 
and  goes  into  the  contingent  fund,  if  not  used  within  the  year  for  the  purpose 
specified.  Some  unfortunate  complications  have  arisen  in  the  board  which 
have  delayed  the  work,  but  it  is  hoped  that  the  plan  may  be  in  operation  with 
the  new  school  year. 

Water  Supply. — Perhaps  the  most  important  work  which  has  appealed  to 
this  committee,  and  one  which  seems  almost  hopeless,  so  vast  is  its  scope,  is 
a  pure  water  supply  for  the  city.  Hundreds  of  cases  of  typhoid  fever  occur 
each  year,  and,  while  exact  statistics  are  not  at  hand,  the  statement  has  been 
made  in  print  that  by  actual  count  our  small  city  of  less  than  100,000 
inhabitants,  has  more  typhoid  cases  yearly  than  the  great  cities  of  New  York 
or  Brooklyn.  One  leading  physician  was  attending  25  cases  at  one  time,  and 
these  were  among  the  well-to-do  classes,  who  either  never  drink  the  city 
water  or  drink  it  only  after  boiling  and  filtering.  The  suffering  among  the 
poor  is  very  great.  A  bill  was  before  this  last  legislature  providing  for  a 
State  Board  of  Commissioners  to  investigate  the  water  supply  of  cities,  but 
for  some  reason  it  failed  to  pass  both  houses.  Periodical  and  spasmodic 
attempts  to  deal  with  this  question  have  been  made  without  success.  A 
private  corporation  some  years  ago  offered  to  bring  a  pure  supply  of  water 
from  an  Adirondack  lake  with  the  privilege  of  supplying  towns  on  the  way. 
Their  bill  failed  to  pass  because  sufficient  bribes  were  not  offered.  Later  the 
politicans  almost  forced  upon  the  city  a  scheme  to  bring  water  from  Kinder- 
hook,  which  scientific  experts  pronounced  totally  inadequate  and  impure. 
So  the  city  is  still  using  the  Hudson  river  water  after  it  has  taken  the 
drainage  from  Troy  and  vicinity. 

Ice  Supply. — Two  years  ago  it  was  proved  that  certain  ice  companies  were 
cutting  ice  from  the  river  within  60  feet  of  a  sewer  which  drains  direct  from 
the  penitentiary  and  the  city  pest  hcuse.  Refuse  matter  was  plainly  visible 
in  the  ice  cut  from  this  vicinity,  and  though  the  dt  alers  claim  that  it  is  sold 
only  to  brewers  for  bottling  purposes,  there  is  of  course  great  danger  from 
such  a  source. 

Through  the  efforts  of  the  chairman  of  the  Civic  League  Committee  on 
Public  Health,  a  bill  had  been  before  the  legislature  for  two  winters  prohibit- 
ing this.  The  first  year  it  was  proved  that  certain  legislators  had  accepted 
bribes  from  ice  dealers  to  defeat  the  measure,  and  this  last  year  it  passed  the 
senate  but  failed  to  reach  the  assembly. 

It  may  be  asked  why  the  sanitary  committee  of  Albany  does  not  organize 
as  a  distinct  work  and  become  a  branch  of  the  Ladies'  Health  Protective 
Association  instead  of  being  simply  one  of  numerous  committees  under  the 
Womans  Auxiliary  Board  to  City  Missions.  So  far,  all  the  work  outlined  in 
this  report  has  been  done  practically  by  two  persons  on  the  sanitary  commit- 
tee, and  the  chairman  of  the  public  health  section  of  our  newly  organized 
Civic  League,  who  add  to  their  number  for  each  separate  object  as  need 
requires,  placing  the  work  under  the  auspices  of  either  the  city  mission  or 
the  Civic  League,  as  it  may  command  a  stronger  constituency. 

A  large  variety  of  appeals  come  to  us  through  the  city  mission  work, 
covering  not  only  physical  sanitary  needs,  but  questions  of  moral  health,  such 
as  the  circulation  of  impure  literature,  the  posting  of  obscene  theatre  bills, 
the  existence  of  a  disorderly  house  for  children  of  only  12  to  14  years  of  age 
to  cultivate  the  lowest  forms  of  vice.    Such  questions  as  we  can  not 


32 


well  deal  with  are  referred  to  such  organizations  as  meet  the  need  ;  e.  g. 
the  Humane  Society,  the  Board  of  Health  or  Charity  Organization.  Our 
city  is  so  small  that  the  number  of  really  active  interested  workers  who  are 
willing  to  take  responsibility  is  comparatively  few.  Those  who  started  this 
work  were  all  overburdened  in  other  directions,  and  it  would  be  impracticable 
to  hold  regular  monthly  meetings  in  two  such  important  lines  of  work  as  sani- 
tation and  household  economics,  while  we  are  able  now  to  take  up  subjects 
which  touch  public  health  in  any  form  with  our  present  simple  machinery. 
One  of  the  great  dangers  of  our  age  is  over-organization,  and  recognizing 
this,  our  strongest  workers  have  systematically  aimed  to  group  allied  phil- 
anthropies under  one  central  organization  as  much  as  possible.  Under  the 
Woman's  Auxiliary  Board  to  City  Missions  there  is  great  opportunity  for 
one  committee  to  aid  another  in  such  work  as  is  done  by  the  committees 
on  friendly  visiting,  mothers'  mission,  fresh  air  work,  clothing  bureau, 
employment  bureau,  sanitary  reform,  children's  home  libraries,  newsboys' 
lodging  house,  fruit  and  flower  work,  etc.,  which  are  each  stronger  for  the 
union  of  the  whole. 

At  present,  the  Sanitary  Committee  has  been  offered  rooms,  rent  free,  to 
organize  a  New  England  kitchen  with  cooking  classes,  for  the  Girls*  Guild 
connected  with  the  city  mission  work.  We  are  also  considering  a  course 
of  University  Extension  Lectures  for  mistresses  of  homes,  and  later  on  one  for 
young  girls  and  women  who  can  live  at  home  and  go  out  by  the  day  for 
emergency  work,  like  house  cleaning,  mending,  laundry,  sweeping  and 
dusting  parlors,  care  of  lamps,  putting  away  winter  clothing,  etc.,  who  will 
be  under  one  central  authority.  Only  time,  strength,  and  the  right  workers 
are  needed  to  push  on  to  a  much  larger  work  than  we  have  yet  been  able 
to  accomplish. 

Then  followed  a  paper  by  Mrs.  Ellen  Richardson  of  the 
Boston  Confederate  Council  of  Clubs. 


Madame  President,  and  Delegates  of  the  Ladies  Health  Protective  Asso- 
ciations : — 

Summoned  so  suddenly  by  the  President  of  the  New  York  Ladies  Health 
Protective  Association  to  attend  this  Convention  as  her  guest,  I  have  had  no 
time  to  inform  myself  of  the  work  being  done  in  Boston  which  might  be 
directly  in  line  with  the  special  aim  of  your  association.  I  am  here  to  learn, 
and  become  the  medium  of  information  as  to  what  is  being  done  here  and 
elsewhere. 

I  know  that  in  Boston  we  have  diffused  work  for  healthier  conditions  of 
private  life  publicly  exposed,  but  do  not  know  of  a  single  organization 
devoted  to  the  specific  object. 

We  have  a  Committee  of  Confederate  Council  of  Clubs,  known  as  the  C.  C. 
C.'s,  who  discuss  public  welfare,  when  any  flagrant  practice  threatens 
health— or  morals.  I  know  that  tbey  objected  to  indecent  posters  of  thea- 
tricals on  bill-boards,  and  found  that  the  law  on  the  Massachusetts  statute 
books  were  such  as  to  back  the  tremendously  signed  petition  which  was 
sent  up  to  the  State  House  asking  for  the  enforcement,  of  that  law.    I  know 


33 


that  some  eight  years  ago,  they  decided  that  better  conditions  should  prevail 
in  the  street  cars  and  depots  of  railroads,  and  waited  upon  the  President  of 
the  West  End  Railroad,  asking  that  placards  should  be  placed  in  all  street 
cars,  requesting  the  passengers  not  to  spit  upon  the  floor.  (The  suggestion 
made  here  this  afternoon,  is  a  good  one,  that  notices  had  better  read,  passen- 
gers are  requested  not  to  spit  while  in  this  car,  which  would  insure  the  seats, 
the  window  seats  and  platforms  from  the  nuisance.) 

Good  work  is  being  done  by  different  organizations,  such  as  that  by  the 
Household  Economic  Association  who  discovered  that  the  school-house  floors 
were  not,  but  must  be  washed  oftener  than  they  were  used  to  being.  I  do 
not  know  why  a  special  association  for  health  protection  has  not  been  formed. 
The  equal  needs  may  not  have  existed,  the  city  officials  may  have  done  their 
work  so  well  that  glaring  needs  have  not  stirred  up  remonstrance.  To  be 
sure,  Boston  is  peculiarly  constituted  towards  cleanly  conditions,  its  business 
portion  is  concentrated,  as  are  its  slums,  its  lodging  house  accommodation, 
and  its  small  residential  portion  of  the  Back  Bay  homes  is  along  the  banks  of 
the  Charles,  while  the  greater  proportion  of  the  people  of  Boston  come  only 
to  the  centre,  for  business,  leave  it  promptly,  and  go  into  the  beautiful 
suburbs  for  rest  and  pleasure.  The  suburbs  are  beautiful,  and  are  individually 
responsible  for  their  health  conditions. 

All  this  is  not  saying  there  is  no  work  for  such  an  association  as  yours, 
which  should  make  it  its  special  duty  to  inspect  all  conditions,  from  foul 
odors  to  driving  dusts,  floating  papers,  etc.  We  have  societies  who  take 
pride  in  historical  buildings  and  streets,  as  the  Bostoniana,  The  Twentieth 
Century  Club,  and  the  Floral  Emblem  Society,  and  no  doubt  all  these  influ- 
ences tend  to  keep  up  the  orderly  appearance  of  a  city's  surface  and  a  city's 
atmosphere. 

Speaking  of  the  ethics  of  public  customs,  I  recall  a  sign  posted  generally 
throughout  the  public  places  in  Santa  Rosa,  California,  when  I  was  there 
during  their  beautiful  rose  festival  two  years  ago.  It  read  thus  :  "Anyone 
spitting  upon  this  floor  cannot  expec-to-rate  as  a  gentleman."  Here  was  cer- 
tainly an  ethical  hint  crowning  a  plain  protest. 

I  have  been  very  much  interested  in  all  that  I  have  heard  from  New  York, 
Brooklyn,  Philadelphia  and  other  places.  I  shall  take  pleasure  in  reporting 
the  good  results  at  home,  and  hope  that  the  example  will  rouse  and  direct 
thought  in  the  care  of  public  health  conditions.  A  fitting  time  to  present 
your  work,  will  be  during  a  five  weeks'  Congress  on  Home,  to  be  held  in 
Boston  from  October  5th  to  November  7th,  inclusive,  at  Cotillion  Hall, 
Mechanics'  Building.  As  Chairman  of  the  Congress,  it  will  give  me  pleasure 
to  welcome  you  there. 

ELLEN  A.  RICHARDSON. 

The  following  brief  report  from  Mrs.  Martha  E.  Fischel  of 
the  Wednesday  Club,  of  St.  Louis,  was  read  by  Mrs.  Wakeman. 

My  Dear  Mrs.  Trautmann  : 

The  science  section  of  our  Wednesday  Club  have,  since  I  wrote  you,  begun 
to  arrange  for  some  future  work.  The  chairman  is  Mrs.  Theodore  Mieir, 
3938  Washington  Ave.  We  have  had  a  Civic  Federation  for  two  years  past, 
but  it  was  so  badly  managed  and  neglectful  of  its  responsibilities  that  the 


34 


only  showing  it  could  make  was  an  expenditure  of  office  rent  and  salary. 
Efforts  are  just  now  being  made  to  reorganize  with  a  new  force,  but  it  is  as 
yet  in  rather  a  chaotic  state.  The  efforts  of  the  Wheel  Club  united  with 
others  has  been  productive  of  a  great  deal  of  attention  to  our  streets,  which 
are  now  fairly  clean.  Our  alleys  are  shamefully  neglected.  Our  garbage 
contractor  does  fairly  good  work,  and  the  President  of  our  City  Council  being 
a  man,  not  only  of  highest  ability,  but  of  strictest  integrity  of  character,  we 
have  a  close  watchfulness  of  our  municipal  affairs  conducted  through  his  office. 
There  is  a  Humanity  Club  of  Women,  quite  large  and  composed  of  representa- 
tive women,  but  as  their  work  so  far  has  been  devoted  solely  to  our  city- jail  in 
alleviating  some  of  the  hardships  of  the  women  prisoners,  I  did  not  think  it 
was  indicated  by  your  letter.  This  is  all  that  I  can  report.  The  public  con- 
science is  however  fully  awakened,  and  I  think  the  next  few  months  will  be 
productive  of  intelligent  activity. 

Yours  truly, 

MARTHA  E.  FISCHEL. 


Mrs.  H.  Plunkett,  of  Pittsfield,  Mass.,  author  of  "  Women, 
Plumbers  and  Doctors" — "Twenty-five  years  of  Protective 
Medicine,"  was  next  called  upon,  and  made  the  following 
remarks : 

Mrs.  President,  Ladies  of  the  Health  Protective  Association,  and  Delegates: 

If,  when  fifteen  years  ago,  I  began  to  gather  facts  and  material  for  a  book, 
to  show  the  vital  interest  of  women  in  Sanitation,  any  one  should  have  told 
me  that  they  could  be  roused  from  their  apathy  and  indifference,  and  that 
such  a  gathering  as  we  have  seen,  could  ever  be  convened,  my  answer  would 
have  been:  "When  that  day  comes,  I  shall  be  ready  to  say  with  the  aged  Simeon  : 
1  Now  lettest  thou  thy  servant  depart  in  peace.' "  But  I  do  not  want  to  go  at 
all ;  having  heard  these  interesting  papers  from  all  parts  of  the  land,  I  want 
to  stay  and  see  the  future  developments  from  so  promising  a  beginning  ;  your 
Association  is  to  be  congratulated  upon  bringing  these  zealous  workers 
together. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  a  new  estimate  of  the  vital  importance  of  physical 
health,  as  the  foundation  element  of  happiness,  is  making  its  way  among 
women,  and  from  a  very  recent  study  of  the  sanitary  signs  of  the  times,  I  can 
testify  that  there  are  points  of  light  beginning  to  show  themselves  all  around 
the  horizon.  About  twelve  years  ago,  some  Boston  graduates  from  women's 
colleges  gathered  themselves  together,  and  asked  "  what  can  we  do  with  our 
higher  education  to  make  the  world  brighter  and  better  for  our  having  lived 
in  it  ?  "  They  formed  an  association,  and  set  themselves  to  studying  all  that 
goes  to  make  the  Science  of  Sanitation,  and  under  the  leadership  of  Miss 
Marion  Talbot  and  Mrs.  Ellen  H.  Richards,  they  produced  a  valuable  Manual 
of  Sanitation  that  has  been  a  great  stimulant  to  study  and  effort  in  many 
localities.    From  that  association  came  an  impulse,  that  has  so  spread  and 


35 


augmented  that  most  of  the  women  of  Boston  are  wide  awake  on  the  subject, 
as  is  shown  by  the  large  classes  that  have  attended  the  sanitary  talks  of  Mrs. 
Tobey  and  others  recently.  At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Ohio  Board  of 
Health  in  January  last,  Dr.  Probst,  the  secretary,  invited  Mrs.  Thomas  L. 
Johnston,  of  Cleveland,  to  read  a  paper  on  the  Relation  of  Women  to  Sanita- 
tion before  them  ;  she  produced  an  able  account  of  much  of  the  sanitary 
work  of  women  up  to-date,  and  dwelt,  with  admiration,  od  the  work  actually 
accomplished  by  the  Ladies  Health  Protective  Association  of  New  York  City. 
There  is  a  great  waking  up  all  over  the  state,  as  to  the  prevention  of  typhoid 
tbrough  pure  water  supplies,  and  especially  in  the  great  commercial  city 
which  now  drinks  fouled  lake-water.  Many  of  the  co  educational  institutions 
of  the  west  are  inaugurating  courses  of  sanitary  lectures,  and  making  a  study 
of  the  prevention  of  disease  a  feature  of  their  curricula — Miss  Talbot,  herself 
is  the  professor  in  the  Chicago  University  ; — Ann  Arbor  has  Dr.  Mosher  as 
her  instructor  in  Sanitary  Science, — and  a  Michigan  women — Dr.  Mary  E. 
Green,  of  Clinton,  has  arranged,  it  seems  to  me,  the  very  best  scheme  of 
study  for  clubs  which  do  not  want  to  study  Sanitation  exclusively,  but  still 
wish  to  compass  a  knowledge  of  it.  Her  "course"  is  planned  to  last  from 
October  to  June.  The  handling  of  the  problems  connected  with  the  World's 
Fair  arrested  the  attention  of  all  Chicago,  and  when  women  saw  all  the 
waste  of  those  great  multitudes,  daily  and  inoffensively  turned  into  ashes, 
they  asked  why  the  garbage  of  the  city  could  not  be  similarly  treated — 
resolute  Miss  Sweet,  procured  a  good  destructor,  mounted  it  on  wheels,  and 
went  from  one  dump  to  another,  showing  How  To  Do  It,  and  now  Miss  Jane 
Adams,  of  Hull  House  is  the  Inspector  of  Garbage  for  the  great  city.  The 
Fair  demonstrated  anew  the  value  of  co-operation,  and  many  Sanitary  Clubs, 
Circles  and  Associations  have  come  into  being  since.  That  of  Philadelphia 
seems  to  have  been  born  full-grown — it  was  heir  to  the  experience  of  all  the 
others.  Brooklyn  amazes  us  by  its  energy  and  members  ;  you  have  heard  all 
these  interesting  reports  from  different  places  this  afternoon,  and  there  are 
literary  clubs  in  Waze,  Mass.,  and  Great  Barrington,  and  Pittsfield,  and  New 
Bedford,  and  New  Rochelle,  and  Baltimore  that  have  arranged  for  instructive 
sanitary  lectures. 

The  foolish  squeamishness  that  makes  people  hesitate  to  speak  of  the  deadly 
microbe  of  the  sputum,  which  is  ready  to  attack  us  in  our  daily  walks, 
is  dying  out — he  is  as  deadly  as  the  bullet,  and  who  would  hesitate  to  lift  up 
a  warning  voice  against  that.  It  is  a  matter  of  thankfulness  that  the  incubus 
of  "politics"  has  been  lifted  from  the  broom — Col.  Waring  doesn't  ask 
whether  the  man  "on"  its  efficient  end,  is  a  Republican  or  Democrat  or  a 
Mugwump,  but  "has  he  a  stout  muscle,  and  a  mind  to  be  diligent,"  and 
we  see  the  happy  result. 

The  earnest  women  of  to-day  are  naturally  looking  to  see  what  their  sisters 
are  accomplishing  for  the  progress  and  uplifting  of  the  world — every  journal 
and  magazine  has  its  "  column  concerning  women,"  their  activities,  etc.  In 
studying  the  field,  there  seems  to  be,  in  some  lines  of  feminine  endeavor,  a 
disproportionate  amount  of  running  about  and  cackling  compared  with  the 
actual  number  of  eggs  laid.  Not  so,  Mrs.  President,  in  the  Association  whose 
guests  we  are  to-day.  They  had  already  achieved  a  series  of  substantial 
reforms,  before  the  outside  world  had  fairly  heard  of  them — they  were  too 
much  engrossed  with  the  hard  work  of  conquering  abuses,  to  have  time  or 
strength  for  noisy  demonstrations  ;  but  their  patient,  united  and  unflagging 
work  has  brought  forth  noble  results,  and  to  day  they  come  "  bringing  their 


36 


sheaves  with  them,"  and,  Mrs.  President,  your  Association  is  to  be  heartily 
congratulated  on  what  you  have  done  in  purifying  your  own  city,  and  in 
setting  an  example  to  other  committees,  and  in  inaugurating  a  movement 
here  and  now,  which,  dating  from  this  gathering,  will  be  felt  to  the  remotest 
borders  of  our  land  by  the  women — the  true  guardians  of  the  health  of  the 
country. 

Mrs.  Louis  D.  Gallison,  President  of  the  Improvement 
Society  of  the  Oranges,  was  next  called  upon.    She  said  : 

Madam  President,  Ladies  : 

The  gateman  at  the  Delaware,  Lackawanna  and  Western  Railroad  announc- 
ing the  trains  ready  for  departure,  calls  "Newark  and  all  the  Oranges." 
To  the  uninitiated  this  sounds  very  strangely. 

"All  the  Oranges"  means  Orange  proper,  a  city — East,  West  and  South 
Orange  townships. 

The  Improvement  Society  of  the  Oranges  includes  the  four.  Our  work 
and  our  membership  is  embraced  in  these  different  localities. 

To  properly  systematize  work,  our  society  is  divided  into  Standing  Com- 
mittees. The  officers  :  president,  two  vice.-presidents,  two  secretaries,  and  a 
treasurer,  with  the  chairmen  of  the  various  Standing  Committees,  form  the 
Executive  Board. 

Our  first  Committee,  Finance  and  Audit,  needs  no  explanation. 

The  second,  Streets  and  Sanitation,  is  our  Board  of  Health. 

The  Domestic  Training  Association  is  designated  in  our  reports  as 
Committee  Three.  This  Committee  is  regularly  officered,  has  a  controlling 
or  executive  board  of  seven  officers  and  thirty  members,  with  a  steadily 
increasing  subscription  list. 

The  Domestic  Training  Association  has  leased  a  house  on  our  principal 
street,  which  it  has  neatly  furnished  as  a  dwelling  ;  one  room  being  fitted 
as  a  class  room  with  a  gas  range. 

We  take  girls  to  train  as  cooks,  waitresses,  general  house  workers,  etc.,  etc., 
giving  them  a  course  of  from  three  to  six  months'  instruction  free  of  charge, 
boarding  them  in  the  house. 

Miss  Sara  E.  Craig,  our  Superintendent,  is  an  expert  in  her  line  of  work, 
being  one  of  the  best  cooking  teachers  in  the  country. 

Beside  giving  instruction  to  the  maids  in  training,  she  gives,  every 
Thursday,  demonstration  lessons  for  ladies  and  servants  together ;  practice 
lessons  to  classes  limited  to  eight  members.  Chafing-dish  classes  to  both 
ladies  and  gentlemen,  and  private  lessons  ;  also  lessons  in  marketing.  A 
valuable  service  is  that  of  giving  additional  training  to  servants  already  in 
service.    Often  a  cook  is  excellent  in  many  things  but  deficient  in  others. 

We  believe  in  system,  and  feel  that  scientific  and  intelligent  work  in  our 
households  would  be  the  acme  of  bliss. 

The  servant  question  is  a  problem  this  Association  is  doing  its  best  to 
partially  solve :  the  aim — a  high  one — to  raise  the  standard  of  housework 
and  household  economy  to  an  art ;  at  any  rate,  to  place  the  hiring  of 
domestics  and  domestic  service  upon  a  business  basis. 


B9 


This  is  really  one  of  the  grandest  charities  in  which  women  are  concerned. 
It  gives  a  respectable  and  comfortable  means  of  livelihood  to  many  women  ; 
it  makes  happy  homes  for  mistress  and  maid  ;  it  gives  added  health  and 
strength  by  means  of  hygienic  and  scientific  cookery. 

The  Public  School  Committee  is  divided  into  wards,  and  each  public 
school  and  school-room  is  visited  at  least  once  a  month,  and  suggestions 
made  of  benefit  both  to  scholars  and  teachers.  These  ward  visitors  report 
regularly  to  the  Board  of  Education,  and  are  recognized  by  them  as  "lady 
visitors."  The  suggestions  are  generally  carried  out — as  originating  with  the 
Board  of  Education. 

Our  Committee  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Children  is  a  branch  of 
the  Newark  Children's  Aid  Society,  and  works  under  their  laws  and  in 
conjunction  with  them. 

The  Committee  on  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals  is  a  branch  of  the 
New  Jersey  State  Society  ;  is  known  as  the  Essex  County  District  Society. 
This  branch  has  regular  officers.  The  members  wear  badges,  which  give 
them  power,  under  the  State  laws,  to  cause  instant  arrest  or  fine  in  cases 
of  cruelty. 

Our  Committee  on  Railroads  and  Stations  attends  to  both  the  steam, 
trolley  and  ferry  service,  investigating  complaints  and  carrying  them  to  the 
proper  authorities,  etc.  This  Committee  issues  small  blank  books  to  the 
commuters  on  the  steam  cars  with  spaces  for  specific  complaints  against  the 
service.  These  are  returned  once  a  month,  new  ones  being  furnished,  the 
reports  are  condensed  and  forwarded  to  the  Railroad,  Ferry  Company  or 
Traction  Company,  as  the  case  may  be. 

The  Alms  and  Humanitarian  Committee  has  for  work  the  visiting  of  the 
Poorhouse,  supplying  the  inmates  with  reading  matter  ;  visiting  the  female 
prisoners  in  the  station  houses,  if  necessary  ;  and  has  leased  a  house  which 
it  supports  as  a  Day  Nursery.  During  the  last  month  300  children  were 
cared  for ;  4,000  during  the  past  year. 

The  Day  Nursery  has  a  matron  and  an  assistant. 

The  Committee  on  the  Preservation  of  the  Beauty  of  the  Oranges  has 
laid  out  and  cared  for  Military  Common  and  two  other  small  parks. 

Military  Common  has  been  reclaimed  from  an  unsightly  eyesore  to  a 
beautiful  little  park  with  rare  and  handsome  shrubbery. 

This  Committee  is  a  hard  working  one,  depending  for  support  on  public 
subscriptions. 

Last  year  a  landscape  and  regular  gardeners  were  employed. 

This  year  we  are  working  to  raise  money  to  be  able  to  do  more. 

We  are  a  society  of  women,  and  being  women,  having  no  power,  we 
regard  ourselves  as  agitators  of  public  opinion. 

"  The  Oranges"  is  largely  a  residential  community,  the  larger  part  of  the 
male  population  being  New  York  business  men. 

The  women  of  Orange  feel  this  municipal  housekeeping  to  be  their 
legitimate  work. 

The  work  of  the  Society  thus  briefly  sketched  out  gives  but  a  faint  idea 
of  the  work  actually  performed. 

In  the  two  years  of  its  existence  much  opposition  from  conservative 
minds  has  had  to  be  met  and  overcome,  and  much  in  this  line  is  yet  to  be 
accomplished  before  the  Society  reaches  its  greatest  usefulness  ;  in  the 
meantime,  however,  we  keep  steadily  on  in  the  paths  already  laid  out, 
believing  that  actions,  in  this  case  at  least,  speak  louder  than  words. 


88 


Mrs.  A.  F.  Schneider,  of  Perth  Amboy,  followed  with  a 
short  account  of  the  work  done  in  her  town. 

Our  association  was  only  organized  last  April,  when  Mrs.  Scrimgeour  was 
with  us.  The  impetus  however  was  first  given  us  by  a  talk  on  Village  Im- 
provements by  Mrs.  Ben;j.  Williamson,  of  Elizabeth,  last  winter,  before  our 
literary  club.  So  far  we  have  met  with  a  great  deal  to  encourage  us, 
the  press  and  the  city  officials  are  with  us,  we  are  steadily  gaining 
new  members,  which  is  saying  a  great  deal  for  a  town  as  conservative 
and  as  far  behind  the  times  as  Perth  Amboy,  which  never  knew  such  a  thing 
as  a  women's  club  of  any  kind  until  last  winter.  We  feel  particularly 
encouraged  by  the  enthusiasm  and  interest  of  the  children  in  this  work, 
because  we  know  we  are  going  to  reach  the  poorer  class  of  people  through 
them  as  we  could  not  hope  to  do  in  any  other  way.  There  are  seven  hundred 
members  now  in  our  Children's  Aid  Auxiliary,  I  heartily  endorse  what  Mrs. 
Scrimgeour  said  in  regard  to  the  children,  for  we  believe  emphatically  they 
are  the  most  hopeful  and  effectual  part  of  the  work  we  are  undertaking. 

Best  of  all,  we  see  an  improvement  in  the  condition  of  our  streets,  which 
were  in  a  most  disgraceful  condition,  and  we  are  raising  money  for  a  much 
needed  drinking  fountain. 

(MRS.  A.  F.)  JENNIE  H.  SCHNEIDER. 


This  concluded  the  papers  for  the  afternoon. 

Mrs.  Scribner,  of  Philadelphia,  then  rose  and  announced 
that  the  next  convention  would  be  held  in  her  city,  and  ex- 
tended a  hearty  and  most  cordial  invitation  to  the  New  York 
society  to  attend  it. 

Mrs.  Ellen  Richardson,  of  Boston,  followed  her  with  an 
invitation  to  the  Society  to  attend  a  Home  Making  Congress 
in  Boston  in  October. 

A  discussion  followed  as  to  the  advisability  of  organizing  a 
National  Federation  of  Health  Protective  Associations. 

It  was  thought  by  Mrs.  Scribner  of  Philadelphia,  that  such 
an  organization  would  be  most  helpful,  that  important  papers 
could  be  circulated  among  the  various  societies,  and  that 
annual  meetings  for  the  discussion  of  the  work  accomplished 
would  be  invaluable. 

It  was  moved  by  Mrs.  C.  Williams  of  New  York,  seconded 
by  Mrs.  Amies  of  Philadelphia,  that  a  committee  of  five  be 


39 


appointed  by  the  Chair  to  consider  the  affiliation  of  Health 
Protective  Associations,  prepare  a  constitution,  and  report  at 
the  meeting  in  Philadelphia.  Carried. 

The  members  selected  at  the  meeting  were 

Mrs.  M.  E.  Trautmann,  of  New  York,  Chairman. 
Mrs.  C.  Fendler,  of  New  York. 
Mrs.  J.  Scrimgeour,  of  Brooklyn. 
Mrs.  I.  B.  Oakley,  of  Pittsburg. 
Mrs.  J.  H.  Scribner,  of  Philadelphia. 

Mrs.  Ellen  Richardson  of  Boston,  offered  to  publish  reports 
of  the  meetings  in  her  paper,  The  Business  Folio. 

After  votes  of  thanks  had  been  given  to  the  New  York 
society  by  the  visiting  members  for  their  hospitality  to  the 
visiting  members,  and  to  the  visiting  members  for  their  able 
papers,  the  afternoon  session  adjourned. 


GENIE  H.  ROSENFELD, 

Recording  Secretary. 


40 


HEN  the  meeting  was  called  to  order  for  the  evening 
session  of  the  Convention  of  Health  Protective 
Associations,  the  flower-decked  platform  pre- 
^  sented  a  brilliant  appearance,  that  was  highly- 
gratifying  to  the  ladies  of  the  New  York  Association,  who 
had  been  working  so  hard  to  ensure  the  success  of  the 
occasion. 

In  the  chair  was  the  Hon.  William  L.  Strong,  Mayor  of 
the  City  of  New  York,  on  his  right  was  Mrs.  M.  E.  Trautmann, 
President  of  the  Ladies  Health  Protective  Association,  and 
on  his  left,  Mrs.  M.  E.  Newton,  First  Vice-President  of  the 
Association.  Beside  Mrs.  Trautmann,  sat  the  Hon.  Charles 
G.  Wilson,  President  of  the  New  York  Board  of  Health,  and 
Captain  Gibson,  Deputy  Commissioner  of  Street  Cleaning ; 
beside  Mrs.  Newton,  were  seated  the  Hon.  Theodore  Roosevelt, 
President  of  the  Board  of  Police,  and  Dr.  Moreau  Morris, 
Vice-Chairman  of  the  Mayor's  Committee  on  Baths  and 
Houses  of  Public  Comfort;  the  Secretary's  chair  being 
occupied  by  Mrs.  Genie  H.  Rosenfeld,  Recording  Secretary 
of  the  Association. 

In  opening  the  proceedings,  the  Mayor  said : 


"  Friends : 

"  I  feel  it  a  great  pleasure  and  privilege  to  be  here  to-night, 
presiding  over  such  a  body  of  intelligent,  earnest  and  hard 
working  women.  The  work  of  the  Ladies  Health  Protective 
Association  of  New  York  City,  has  been  long  and  favorably 
know  to  me,  and  as  I  have  watched  the  Association  in  its 
steady  upward  course,  I  have  frequently  said  to  myself  : 
'  What  would  this  city  be  without  its  good  women!' 

"  It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  the  city  of  New  York  has  been 
the  worst  managed  city  in  the  world,  always  excepting  Chi- 
cago.   Chicago   is  always  excepted  from  everything.  You 


41 

don't  need  that  I  turn  back  for  you  the  dark  pages  of  our 
city's  history,  and  let  you  con  anew  the  stories  of  greed, 
rapacity  and  malfeasance,  that  have  soiled  the  fame  of  our 
fair  city.  The  past  is  dead  ;  it  is  to  the  living  present  and 
hoped  for  future,  that  we  turn  our  gaze,  and  therefore  we  will 
keep  the  volume  of  history  closed.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  it 
is  to  the  energies  of  this  little  band  of  women,  that  we  are 
indebted  for  the  condition  our  city  is  in  to-day,  and  to  no  one 
else. 

u  This  Society  was  the  first  that  attempted  to  clean  the 
Augean  stables  of  the  City  of  New  York,  it  has  accomplished 
for  the  city  what  no  one  else  could,  and  the  crowning  glory  of 
its  work  appears  in  the  street  cleaning  of  to-day. 

"  From  the  moment  the  women  took  hold,  improvement 
began. 

"  The  improvements  of  the  Charitable  Institutions  is  owing 
to  the  women  of  our  city,  as  well  as  the  separating  of  the 
Charities  and  Corrections,  the  improvement  of  the  Tombs  and 
the  appropriation  of  $100,000.,  to  improve  the  Almshouses. 
The  foundations  of  all  these  great  works  were  laid  by  the  good 
women  of  the  City  of  New  York. 

"  Foreigners  coming  to  our  city  now  speak  of  it  as  the 
cleanest  city  of  the  world  ;  and  that  it  is  so,  and  that  so  much 
other  good  work  has  been  accomplished  and  projected,  is  due 
to  the  energy  and  example  of  the  Ladies  Health  Protective 
Association." 

The  Mayor  then  called  upon  the  President,  Mrs.  Trautmann, 
for  a  summary  of  the  work  of  the  Society  during  the  last 
twelve  years. 

Mrs.  Trautmann's  paper  ran  as  follows  : 

TWELVE  YEARS'  WORK  OF  THE 
LADIES  HEALTH  PROTECTIVE  ASSOCIATION. 

By  Mrs.  M.  E.  Trautmann,  President. 

N  November,  1884,  eleven  women  residing  on  Beekman 
Hill,  whose  houses  are  beautifully  located  on  a  high 
bluff  overlooking  the  East  River,  with  everything  desir- 
able to  make  them  healthful,  were  so  outraged  at  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  foul  odors  which  polluted  the  atmosphere  of 
the  entire   neighborhood,  causing  them   to  keep  windows 


42 


closed  in  the  hottest  weather,  and  depriving  them  of  their 
inalienable  right  to  pure  air,  that  they  resolved  to  investigate 
the  cause  of  this  nusiance. 

Accordingly,  they  made  a  tour  of  the  neighborhood,  in  that 
section  of  the  city  known  as  the  Abattoir  District,  which  runs 
on  First  avenue  from  Forty-third  to  Forty-seventh  streets. 
Their  first  visit  was  a  revelation,  and  while  they  returned  to 
their  homes  ill  from  the  inspection,  and  the  discovery  of  the 
nuisance  by  which  they  had  so  long  been  tortured,  they 
decided  that  some  action  must  be  taken  to  better  the  condi- 
tions. 

The  following  morning  their  number  was  increased  to  fif- 
teen, and  it  was  resolved  that  these  women  should  form  them- 
selves into  an  organization,  to  be  known  as  the  Ladies  Health 
Protective  Association. 

The  first  action  of  the  new  society,  was  to  proceed  against 
the  nuisance  which  had  been  causing  them  so  much  discom- 
fort. This  was  an  enormous  accumulation  of  manure,  20,000 
ton,  30  feet  in  height,  200  feet  in  length,  which  was  in  a  decayed 
and  reeking  condition,  the  steam  issuing  from  it  filling  an 
area  of  miles  with  its  vile  odors. 

This  abominable  nuisance  was  maintained  by  Michael  Kane, 
who,  with  a  brother-in-law  a  Senator  at  Albany,  was  able,  with 
his  political  backing,  to  defy  all  law  and  decency.  The  manure 
in  its  rotted  state  was  of  much  more  value  as  a  fertilizer,  and 
Mr.  Kane's  revenue  was  largely  increased  by  letting  the  vile 
stuff  remain  there  to  rot,  while  an  entire  community  was  made 
to  suffer. 

Our  first  step  was  to  appear  before  the  Grand  Jury,  and  Mr. 
Kane  was  indicted  for  maintaining  a  public  nuisance.  He 
cared  very  little  for  this  action,  as  he  had  several  indictments 
holding  over  him,  which  had  always  been  pigeon-holed,  and 
he  thought  this  one  would  travel  thejsame  road.  But  it  was  his 
first  experience  with  women,  and  he  did  not  realize  what  that 
meant.  He  was  tried  before  Judge  Barrett,  in  the  Court  of  Oyer 
and  Terminer,  and  after  a  trial  lasting  for  four  days,  through 
which  he  was  defended  by  that  able  lawyer  Algernon  Sullivan, 
he  was  convicted,  and  found  guilty  of  maintaining  a  public 
nuisance.  Before  sentence  was  imposed  upon  him,  Judge 
Barrett  gave  him  thirty  days  to  remove  the  accumulation,  and 
he  was  compelled  to  employ  a  large  force  of  men  to  accom- 
plish it. 

From  that  time,  until  the  present,  we  have  never  ceased  our 
vigilance,  and  while  Mr.  Kane  made  every  effort  to  continue 
the  nuisance  in  a  covert  manner,  he  finally  became  amenable 
to  the  law,  and  to-day  his  business  causes  us  very  little 
discomfort. 

In  those  days  our  officials  were  very  indifferent,  and  as  this 
was  the  first  time  women  had  attempted  to  interfere  with  any 
of  their  duties,  they  looked  upon  our  action  with  great  dis- 


43 

favor,  and  met  us  with  antagonism  at  every  step.  General 
Shaler,  then  President  of  the  Health  Board,  when  called  upon 
the  witness  stand  during  the  trial,  stated  that  he  had  neither 
visited  nor  had  a  report  of  that  section  of  the  city  for  over  six 
years.  He  was  found  derelict  in  his  duty,  and  reprimanded. 
After  the  verdict  against  Mr.  Kane,  we  were  told  by  Com- 
missioner French,  a  member  of  the  Health  Board,  that  he  was 
surprised  at  the  verdict,  and  we  were  interfering  in  matters 
that  did  not  concern  us. 

This  was  the  beginning  of  our  work,  and  on  the  9th  of 
December,  1885,  we  secured  our  State  charter,  and  became  an 
organization  for  the  purpose  of  sanitary  improvement  of  our 
city. 

Notwithstanding  our  victory  with  Mr.  Kane,  a  little  further 
experience  proved  to  us  what  a  herculean  task  we  had  under- 
taken. We  were,  however,  earnest  women,  fully  aroused  to 
the  necessity  of  action  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  were 
less  fortunate  in  life,  and  unable  to  help  themselves. 

In  close  proximity  to  the  manure  ground  were  the  slaughter 
houses,  where  meat  was  killed  and  dressed  for  daily  con- 
sumption, and  adjoining  them  was  the  Fat  Rendering  and 
Bone  Boiling  Establishment  of  Messrs.  RafTerty  &  Williams. 

The  state  of  affairs  here  was  simply  apalling,  and  we 
wondered  how  the  occupants  of  the  tenement  houses  all 
around  that  section  were  able  to  exist ;  the  only  solution  to 
the  problem  being,  the  counter  action  of  the  salt  air,  as  they 
were  so  close  to  the  river  front. 

We  were  confronted  with  55  dirty  little  pens,  called 
slaughter  houses,  the  proprietors  of  which,  seemed  to  be  per- 
fectly satisfied,  and  devoid  of  any  idea  of  improvement.  The 
slaughtering  was  done  in  the  presence  of  children,  who  stood 
before  the  doors,  and  became  so  utterly  demoralized,  that  the 
sight  of  blood  was  no  more  to  them  than  so  much  running 
water.  The  walls  and  floors  of  these  pens  reeked  with  filth, 
and  the  meat,  when  slaughtered,  was  hung  on  large  hooks 
over  the  curbstone,  there  to  swarm  with  flies,  and  catch  all  the 
dust  and  dirt  of  the  neighborhood.  The  cattle  were  driven 
through  the  streets  in  droves,  and  when  they  reached  the 
slaughter  houses,  were  confined  in  cellars,  the  air  of  which  was 
so  stifling  and  fetid,  that  the  poor  creatures  could  be  seen 
clambering  over  each  other,  in  frantic  efforts  to  reach  up  to 
the  gratings,  for  a  breath  of  fresh  air.  In  the  bone  boiling 
works,  the  odors  were  overpowering,  and  on  investigation,  we 
found,  that  the  bones  were  collected  from  the  retail  butchers, 
whenever  it  best  suited  the  convenience  of  Messrs.  Rafferty  & 
Williams,  regardless  whether  they  had  remained  a  week,  or  a 
month,  in  the  shops. 

Our  course  for  the  abolishment  of  this  nuisance,  was  an 
appeal  to  the  higher  authorities,  by  the  presentation  of  a  bill 
to  the  Legislature,  where,  as  we  expected,  we  were  defeated  ; 


44 


but  the  amount  of  money  it  cost  the  butchers  to  defeat  the 
bill,  caused  them  to  recognize  the  fact,  that  we  intended  to 
effect  reform  in  their  establishments.  This  effort  caused  a 
joint  conference,  held  with  a  committee  from  our  association, 
and  four  of  the  butchers  having  the  largest  interest,  who 
represented  all  of  the  butchers  in  the  city,  the  result  being  a 
compromise,  we  agreeing  to  take  no  further  legislative  pro- 
ceedings, if  they  would  adopt  the  list  of  reforms  which  we  had 
prepared,  they  in  turn  accepting  all  of  our  suggestions. 
While  the  money  consideration  in  the  Legislature,  had  been  a 
great  incentive  to  consider  the  reforms  we  asked,  our  demands 
were  so  great,  that  they  found  it  was  much  cheaper  to  tear 
down  the  old  pens  they  were  using  and  erect  new  buildings, 
and  to-day,  the  business  is  carried  on  in  three  model  abattoirs, 
furnished  with  all  the  improved  machinery  known  to  modern 
science.  Messrs.  Schwarzchild  &  Sulzberger,  were  the  first  to 
erect  one  of  these  model  abattoirs  ;  they  were  followed  by 
Messrs.  Fleischauer  &  Co.,  with  one  for  smaller  stock,  and 
since  our  last  report,  a  fine  abattoir  has  been  erected  by  the 
United  States  Dressed  Beef  Co.,  the  former,  and  latter,  taking 
in  almost  the  entire  blocks  between  Forty-third  and  Forty- 
fourth  streets,  and  Forty-fifth  to  Forty-sixth  streets,  from  First 
avenue  to  East  River. 

The  Bone  Boiling  and  Fertilizing  establishment  owned  by 
Messrs.  Rafferty  &  Williams,  was  an  intolerable  nuisance, 
not  only  from  the  fact  that  the  bones  were  collected  from 
retail  butcher  shops,  when  they  were  several  weeks  old,  but 
that  these,  when  going  through  the  process  of  boiling,  to  be 
made  into  fertilizer,  gave  off  odors  that  permeated  the 
atmosphere  for  miles,  and  caused  misery  and  discomfort 
to  hundreds  of  people.  It  seems  almost  incredible,  that 
such  a  nuisance  could  have  existed  for  so  many  years  in  a 
civilized  community.  This  has  been  entirely  abolished,  and 
Rafferty  &  Williams,  have  gone  out  of  business.  The  ferti- 
lizing manufacture  is  now  carried  on  in  connection  with 
the  abattoirs,  the  bones  are  not  only  collected  daily, 
but  all  offal  and  bones  are  consumed  every  day,  and  converted 
into  the  fertilizer  while  in  their  fresh  state.  The  building 
in  which  this  process  is  in  operation,  has  been  built  in  the 
most  scientific  manner,  and  every  effort  is  made  by  the 
owners,  to  render  this  business  as  unobjectionable  as  possible, 
and  they  spare  no  expense,  in  placing  the  most  improved 
dryers  and  condensers  for  the  suppression  of  the  odors. 

As  our  membership  had  largely  increased  by  this 
time,  and  we  were  working  step  by  step,  taking  one  nuisance 
after  the  other,  we  divided  ourselves  into  standing  committees, 
and  tried  again  to  secure  the  co-operation  of  our  municipal 
authorities.  We  prefer  this  manner  of  doing  our  work,  and  al- 
ways do  our  best  to  avoid  antagonizing  any  of  the  authorities. 
We  carefully  avoid  taking  any  note  of  politics  in  our  work  ;  we 


46 

are  entirely  and  absolutely  non  partisan,  both  as  to  officials 
and  party.  We  want  the  right  man  in  the  right  place,  and 
when  there,  will  do  our  best  to  keep  him,  no  matter  what 
party  is  in  power. 

In  the  change  of  administration,  we  had  a  change  in  the 
President  of  the  Health  Board,  and  Mr.  J.  Baylis  was  appointed. 
From  that  time  matters  began  to  improve,  but  it  was  not 
until  1889,  when  Mr.  C.  G.  Wilson  was  appointed  President  of 
the  Board  of  Health,  that  we  could  say  we  had  practical  and 
valuable  co-operation.  When  this  gentleman  was  appointed, 
we  were  doubtful  whether  so  many  changes  were  best,  as  the 
work  had  to  be  well  understood.  In  a  short  time,  however, 
we  were  inspired  with  confidence,  when  we  found  that  Mr. 
Wilson  was  not  only  practical,  but  a  thorough  business  man, 
having  his  inspectors  work,  and  working  hard  himself ;  not  only 
making  personal  inspections  during  the  day,  but  many  times 
leaving  his  bed  at  night,  to  trace  odors  and  investigate  causes. 
To  day  he  has  our  confidence  to  such  an  extent,  that  we  know 
when  we  send  in  a  complaint,  or  ask  assistance  of  the  Board, 
we  will  not  be  required  to  take  any  further  steps  in  the  matter, 
and  the  evil  will  be  remedied.  We  have  never  worked  on 
theories,  but  on  facts,  pure  and  simple. 

We  next  turned  our  attention  to  the  gas  houses,  and  through 
our  efforts,  much  of  this  nuisance  has  been  suppressed.  Many 
of  the  companies  have  been  compelled  to  put  in  new  con- 
densers, and  the  old  method  of  emptying  the  lime  boxes  has 
been  abolished,  and  oxide  of  iron,  used  in  its  place.  The 
sponge  is  kept  well  covered,  and  when  the  boxes  are  opened, 
is  the  means  of  condensing  the  odors.  We  hope  to  have 
further  improvements  in  this  direction.  Our  attention  was 
next  directed  to  the  filthy  condition  of  our  streets,  and  the 
slovenly  method  of  the  handling,  and  disposing  of  our  gar- 
bage. It  makes  me  weary  now  when  I  look  back  upon  our 
efforts  along  this  line,  and  think  of  the  many  discouragements 
we  had  to  contend  with.  The  cry  of  each  commissioner,  was 
the  lack  of  sufficient  appropriation,  and  the  impossibility  to 
eliminate  politics  from  the  department.  This  was  in  a 
measure  true,  but  even  with  these  obstacles,  we  could  not  see 
the  least  effort  towards  improvement. 

In  those  days  this  Association  had  small  cards  printed,  and 
sent  to  householders,  asking  them  to  aid  the  department,  by 
burning  all  their  garbage  in  their  kitchen  ranges.  This  feeble 
effort  was  well  considered  in  the  residential  quarters  ;  but 
the  mountain  before  us,  was  the  tenement  houses. 

During  Mayor  Hewitt's  term  of  office,  we  drafted  and  pre- 
sented to  him  a  memorial,  hoping,  by  our  suggestion,  to 
secure  some  co-operation.  Like  the  rest,  it  did  not  receive 
much  attention,  but  we  were  determined  to  renew  our 
efforts. 


48 

One  of  the  greatest  difficulties  in  the  way  of  keeping  the 
streets  clean  was  the  storing  of  trucks,  carts,  etc.,  in  the  public 
highways.  This  was  not  only  an  obstruction  to  the  proper 
cleaning  ot  the  streets,  but  the  trucks  afforded  sleeping 
quarters  for  tramps,  and  from  a  moral  standpoint  were  a 
disgrace  to  the  city. 

During  the  administration  of  Mayor  Gilroy,  we  called  his 
attention  to  this  evil.  He  received  our  protest  with  surprise, 
and  asked  us  what  we  expected  the  people  to  do  with  their 
vehicles.  We  said  :  4 '  Store  them  ! "  The  Mayor  said,  how- 
ever, that  it  could  not  be  done  in  a  city  like  this.  Colonel 
Waring  has,  however,  given  us  a  proof  that  it  can  be  done, 
and  also  that  we  can  have  a  very  clean  city.  Under  his  able 
and  efficient  administration,  we  no  longer  see  a  set  of  decrepit, 
broken  down  old  men  handling  the  broom  in  our  streets,  as  if 
it  were  a  pastime  given  them  to  keep  them  out  of  mischief. 
Neither  do  we  see  our  garbage  and  ash  receptacles,  on  the 
edge  of  the  curbstones,  filled  to  overflowing,  and  standing  for 
hours,  nor  yet  our  streets  filled  with  litter.  On  the  contrary, 
our  streets  are  like  our  homes,  kept  well  swept  and  cared  for. 

We  were  delighted  with  the  parade  of  Colonel  Waring's 
men  on  the  26th  of  May,  and  it  was  received  with  favor  by  all 
of  our  citizens.  It  was  an  innovation,  and  those  who  went  to 
scoff  were  the  loudest  in  their  praise.  It  was  the  first  time  in 
the  history  of  this  department,  that  the  men  could  feel  some 
self-respect,  that  their  work  was  recognized  as  one  of  the  great 
departments  of  our  municipality.  With  self-respect,  the  con- 
dition of  the  men  is  elevated,  and  much  better  work  is  now 
done  for  the  money  expended.  We  will  never  go  back  to  the 
days  of  filth  and  dirt  again,  for  the  women  of  our  city,  will 
never  allow  the  old  state  of  affairs  to  return. 

The  solution  of  the  problem  as  to  the  final  disposition  of 
garbage,  seems  to  be  a  difficult  one,  and  we  have  been  some- 
what discouraged  over  the  delay  with  this  question.  We  hope 
that  now  the  contract  has  been  given,  whatever  is  done, 
whether  cremation  or  utilization,  the  trimming  of  the  scows 
will  be  abolished,  and  all  of  the  work  done  outside  of  the  city 
limits.  We  also  hope  to  have  the  care  of  the  sidewalks  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  Colonel  Waring,  and  to  have  boxes  placed 
at  the  corners  of  the  streets  throughout  the  city,  for  the  use 
of  citizens  to  throw  paper,  fruit  rinds,  and  odds  and  ends  in. 
We  consider  this  will  largely  prevent  the  untidiness  of  our 
sidewalks. 

The  school  question  has  been  a  very  earnest  one.  We 
have  had  a  Committee  on  School  Hygiene,  which,  with  the 
co-operation  of  the  School  Board,  has  accomplished  many 
sanitary  reforms  in  our  public  schools.  We  have  been  very 
much  pleased  with  the  co-operation  of  the  Board,  and  we 
know  much  more  would  have  been  done  if  the  appropriation 
had  been   sufficient.      Many  of  our  school  houses  are  in 


47 


districts  that  were  sparsely  settled  when  they  were  erected, 
but  with  the  increase  of  population,  are  now  entirely  hemmed 
in  by  tenement  houses  and  factories.  The  buildings  are  old, 
and  it  seems  like  waste  of  money  to  make  any  attempt  to 
re-model  them.  With  the  appointment,  by  our  present  Mayor 
Strong,  of  women  inspectors,  we  hope  with  their  co-operation 
to  achieve  further  results. 

The  question  of  police  matrons  and  municipal  lodging 
houses,  has  always  been  one  of  deep  interest  to  us,  and  we 
have  done  our  share  by  both  legislative  and  personal  effort, 
towards  these  reforms.  Before  trie  appointment  of  matrons, 
all  prisoners,  both  male  and  female,  were  cared  for  by  the 
door-keeper.  There  are  at  present  about  thirty  matrons  in 
our  city  station  houses.  Under  our  present  Board  of  Police 
Commissioners,  a  great  change  has  been  made  in  the  system  ; 
all  matrons,  before  they  receive  their  appointment,  must  pass 
through  a  course  of  lectures  given  to  them  by  the  police 
surgeons,  thus  enabling  them  to  tell  the  difference  between 
intoxication  and  illness,  and  to  render  assistance  accordingly. 
When  we  realize  what  has  been  accomplished  through  this 
reform,  we  feel  a  great  deal  of  satisfaction  for  all  of  the  hard 
work  done  to  effect  it.  We  also  rendered  our  assistance  in 
the  appointment  of  women  as  factory  inspectors,  and  went 
several  times  to  Albany  in  behalf  of  the  passage  of  that  bill, 
which  is  now  such  a  success  throughout  the  State. 

The  unsanitary  habit  of  keeping  cows  shut  up  in  stables  in 
this  city,  was  a  subject  of  consideration  to  us,  especially  as 
the  poor  animals  were  fed  entirely  on  brewer's  grains,  and 
were  kept  in  a  filthy  condition.  After  much  efficient  work  of 
our  committee,  we  finally  succeeded  in  having  this  nuisance 
abolished,  and  the  cows  removed  from  the  city. 

The  unsanitary  condition  of  the  surface  and  elevated  cars, 
and  the  public  buildings,  in  consequence  of  the  vile  habit  of 
men  and  boys  spitting  over  the  floors,  has  given  us  much 
trouble,  and  we  have  appealed  to  presidents  and  managers 
of  the  roads  time  and  time  again,  to  effect  a  reform.  We 
could  not  see  why  men  should  indulge  in  such  a  vile  practice, 
to  the  discomfort  of  women  and  children,  and  the  danger  of 
health  to  all.  We  took  the  matter  to  the  Health  Board,  and 
urged  the  necessity  for  action.  After  six  weeks  the  Board 
took  the  subject  in  hand  from  a  scientific  standpoint,  and 
after  an  investigation  by  their  bacteriologists,  Dr.  Biggs  and 
Dr.  Prudden,  they  were  convinced  that  something  must  be 
done. 

The  first  idea  was  to  try  education  by  moral  suasion — we 
had  our  doubts  about  this  course — and  in  the  early  part  of 
May,  were  highly  gratified  to  learn  that  the  Board  of  Health 
had  issued  an  ordinance,  prohibiting  spitting  on  the  floors  of 
cars,  ferry  boats,  public  stations,  and  public  buildings,  and 
ordered  placards  placed  in  all  cars,  both  surface  and  elevated, 


4:S 


and  in  all  ferry  houses  and  public  buildings,  calling  the 
attention  of  the  public  to  this  ordinance. 

Public  baths  for  winter,  as  well  as  summer,  has  been  given 
much  thought  by  the  Association,  and  we  will  be  very  happy 
when  the  Mayor's  committee  put  the  appropriation  they  have 
received  for  this  purpose  to  practical  use.  The  committee 
have  been  most  efficient,  and  Dr.  Moreau  Morris  will  give  us 
a  most  valuable  paper  on  this  subject  and  the  work  they  will 
accomplish,  in  which  we  will  co-operate  in  every  possible 
way.  There  is  no  greater  education  for  the  poor  of  our  city 
than  cleanliness,  and  we  hope,  with  these  public  baths  and 
houses,  to  see  a  marked  improvement  in  the  occupants  of  our 
tenement  houses. 

We  have  had  a  Committee  on  the  Sanitary  Inspection  of 
Stores,  and  have  co-operated  with  the  Consumers'  League,  to 
the  extent  that  in  their  inspection  of  the  stores,  all  sanitary 
violations  are  reported  to  our  Association,  and  our  committee 
take  immediate  action.  We  are  happy  to  say  that  the 
proprietors  are  always  ready  to  receive  our  suggestions,  and 
follow  them  as  far  as  circumstances  will  allow.  With  the 
passage  of  the  Rhinehardt  Mercantile  Bill,  and  the  power  in 
the  hands  of  the  Health  Board,  we  feel  this  work  will  be 
done  systematically,  and  on  business  principles.  We  hope 
women  will  receive  recognition  in  these  appointments,  and 
that  those  selected  will  be  of  the  highest  intelligence,  possess- 
ing good  judgment,  for  only  such  can  be  a  credit  to  the 
department,  and  give  satisfaction  to  all  they  come  in  contact 
with . 

The  evils  existing  in  bake  shops,  in  their  filthy  condition, 
has  lately  been  brought  to  our  notice,  and  we  rendered  our 
assistance  and  co-operation  for  the  passage  of  the  bill  by  the 
last  Legislature,  and  also  made  our  appeal  to  the  Governor 
for  his  signature.  The  work  in  this  line  is  too  great  to  dwell 
on  in  this  paper,  and  the  field  is  a  new  one  to  us,  but  we  shall 
take  it  up  in  the  autumn,  and  know  we  shall  succeed  in  having 
great  improvements  made  in  the  sanitary  condition  of  the 
bake  shops,  and  feel  that  what  we  consume  from  day  to  day 
will  be  handled  and  prepared  as  it  should  be,  in  a  cleanly 
manner,  and  not  by  over-worked,  careless  men.  We  fully 
realize  the  necessity  of  immediate  action  of  our  Association, 
and  the  co-operation  by  the  Health  Board,  by  facts  that  have 
been  brought  to  our  notice. 

We  succeeded  in  getting  an  ordinance  passed  by  our 
Health  Board,  prohibiting  the  exposure  of  meat  and  poultry, 
which  were  hung  on  hooks  before  the  retailbutcher  shops,  and 
now  it  is  entirely  abolished.  To-day  no  one  realizes  the 
benefit  of  this  reform  more  than  the  butchers  themselves, 
and  many  of  them  have  expressed  their  thanks  to  us  for  it. 

The  tenement  house  problem  has  always  been  one  of  great 
consideration  to  us,  and  while  we  have  done  some  work 


49 


towards  the  sanitary  improvement,  it  has  only  been  a  drop  in 
the  bucket.  The  field  is  too  large  for  a  small  association 
having  so  many  other  lines  of  reform,  and  we  now  confine 
our  efforts  to  co  operating  with  the  Health  Board,  and  the 
Committee  for  Improved  Housing  for  the  Poor,  and  advising 
with  them  as  to  the  best  methods,  etc.  We  know  there  is  a 
great  advance  of  thought  along  these  lines,  and  a  number  of 
capitalists  are  now  ready  to  build  a  large  number  of  new 
houses,  with  all  improvements,  and  the  Health  Board,  in  the 
line  of  march,  is  ordering  the  demolition  of  very  many  of 
the  old  rookeries  called  rear  tenements.  Our  latest  work  has 
been  an  investigation  of  the  Alms  House  on  Blackwell's 
Island,  and  we  are  confident  of  securing  the  much  needed 
improvements  there,  as  there  has  been  a  large  appropriation 
given  by  our  Legislature  for  new  buildings. 

During  our  twelve  years  of  work,  we  have  given  attention 
to  the  Croton  water,  and  the  milk  supply,  both  of  which  now 
are  well  under  control  of  the  Health  Board. 

We  have  neglected  nothing  that  tends  towards  the  protec- 
tion of  public  health.  We  hope  to  see  a  system  of  small 
parks  established  throughout  our  city,  for  the  benefit  of 
suffering  children.  We  have  also  made  an  effort  to  have 
trees  planted  throughout  our  city,  but  under  the  old  adminis- 
tration were  told  it  could  not  be  done,  as  they  would  not 
thrive,  etc.,  and  the  expense  was  too  great.  I  am  happy  to 
state  that  it  can  be  done  under  our  present  Mayor,  who  has 
taken  the  chairrhanship  of  a  committee,  and  an  association 
will  be  formed  to  begin  this  work  at  once — and  we  shall 
join  it 

We  are  now  hoping  to  effect,  through  the  Health  Board,  a 
reform  by  which  the  exposure  of  green  vegetables  and  fruits 
before  the  small  grocery  stores  will  be  prohibited.  The  dust 
and  dirt  of  our  great  city,  the  street  sweepings,  the  shaking 
of  mats  from  windows,  etc.,  make  it  undesirable  that  any 
food  should  be  openly  exposed  on  sidewalks.  Fruits  and 
vegetables  decay  more  quickly  when  exposed  to  the  air,  and 
it  is  a  practice  of  many  grocers,  to  sell  the  half  decayed  and 
withered  stuff  to  second-class  customers,  at  a  reduced  price. 
We  should  like  the  sale  of  sliced  fruit  prohibited,  the  penny 
slices  of  musty  melon  and  rotting  pineapple  only  mean 
cholera  infantum  ;  we  would  like  the  sticks  of  candy,  and  the 
cocoanut  in  pans  of  water,  both  coated  thick  with  dust,  to  be 
warned  off  our  sidewalks,  or  else  forced  to  be  kept  under  a 
glass  covering. 

We  have  asked  the  co-operation  of  the  Police  Department, 
which  has  been  promised  us  by  President  Roosevelt,  and  his 
colleagues,  and  it  is  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  this  Asso- 
ciation, that  we  have  received  any  recognition  from  that 
department. 


90 


In  all  of  our  efforts  we  have  aimed  at  consistency,  and  have 
realized  that  where  men  have  put  all  their  capital  and  energy 
into  the  building  up  of  a  business,  that  even  if  the  business 
was  in  itself  a  nuisance,  time  must  be  given  to  effect  reform, 
and  that  we  must  not  demand  of  any  one  to  tear  down,  in  a 
short  time,  that  which  had  taken  years  of  labor  to  build  up. 
We  follow,  as  much  as  possible,  the  title  of  Charles  Reade's 
great  novel  :  ki  Put  Yourself  in  His  Place." 

On  February  24,  1891,  we  became  so  convinced  of  the  im- 
portance of  our  work,  that  we  sought  and  obtained  a  National 
charter,  in  addition  to  our  State  charter,  and  now  there  are  no 
limits  but  those  of  human  endurance  to  the  good  work  we  can 
do 

Under  our  present  administration,  with  the  heads  of  all  the 
great  departments  willing  to  assist  us,  we  feel  so  encouraged 
in  our  efforts,  that  we  wonder  how  any  of  our  citizens  allowed 
any  other  state  of  affairs.  Cleanliness  raises  the  moral 
standard,  and  with  the  aid  of  the  officials  mentioned,  and  the 
strongest  of  all  aids,  the  press — who  have  always  given  us  the 
most  valuable  assistance  (to  whom  we  express  our  thanks),  our 
Empire  City  can  be  made  what  it  ought  to  be — the  greatest 
in  the  world. 


At  the  conclusion  of  the  paper,  the  Mayor  rose  and  said  : 

u  I  didn't  say  quite  enough  just  now  about  the  energy  and 
power  of  the  women  of  this  Society.  Four  or  five  years  ago  I 
was  passing  a  livery  stable  ;  a  gentleman  was  standing  in  the 
entrance,  complaining  of  the  dirty  and  malodorous  condition 
of  the  stable.  Said  he,  '  If  you  don't  have  this  cleaned  right 
away,  I'll  report  you  to  the  Ladies  Health  Protective  Associa- 
tion." "  Oh,  for  God's  sake,  don't,"  said  the  man,  u  but  come 
down  town  again  next  week,  and  see  if  it  isn't  clean." 

His  Honor  then  introduced  Dr.  Harriet  C.  Keatinge,  who 
read  the  following  paper  on  Stable  Refuse,  written  by  the 
Chairman  of  the   Committee   on    Stable    Refuse,   Mrs.  C. 

Fendler  : 


5  u$&  ■ 

51 

During  our  twelfth  year,  let  us  pause  awhile,  and  look  back  to  the  time, 
when  we  were  forced  to  neglect  our  household  duties,  and  turn  our  attention 
to  public  work— work  that  officials  have  been  paid  to  perform.  Our  homes 
were  impregnated  with  the  vilest  imaginable  odors.  There  were  times  when 
we  dared  not  open  our  windows,  for  fear  that  the  stifling  air  that  invaded  the 
streets,  would  affect  our  children.  It  seems  hardly  credible  that  such  a  state 
of  affairs  should  exist  in  a  city  like  New  York,  but  nevertheless  it  was  a  posi- 
tive fact.  When  we,  a  small  band  of  women,  first  undertook  this  work,  we 
had  no  idea  what  we  had  to  combat.  The  officials  did  their  work  undisturbed, 
whether  right  or  wrong,  good  or  bad.  No  one  dared  to  interfere,  censure 
or  correct.  They  looked  upon  us  as  intruders.  Mayor  Grace  was  amazed 
at  our  undertaking.  President  Shaler  of  the  Health  Department  thought  it 
was  audacious  to  attack  officials,  and  more  especially  a  man  like  himself,  who 
always  exercised  despotic  power,  and  who  always  ruled  supreme. 

Police  Commissioner  French,  questioned  us  as  if  he  were  interrogating  a 
lot  of  criminals  ;  nevertheless  we  did  not  shirk.  When  we  found  those 
officials  who  were  supported  by  public  money  were  unmoved,  and  the  pure  air 
God  provided  for  every  human  being  was  denied  us,  there  was  nothing  left  for 
us  to  do,  but  resort  to  the  justice  of  our  courts. 

Michael  Kane,  who  maintained  a  nuisance  of  stable  refuse  thirty  feet  high 
and  two  hundred  feet  in  length,  was  proceeded  against.  We  appeared  before 
the  Grand  Jury,  and  procured  an  indictment  against  him,  and  we  successfully 
proved,  not  only  our  rights  to  pure  air,  but  also  the  moral  force  of  our  Associ- 
ation. Michael  Kane  was  found  guilty.  When  the  Judge  pronounced 
sentence,  he  said  he  would  only  fine  him  $250.00,  in  consideration  of  the  great 
expense  he  had  in  removing  40,000  tons  of  stable  refuse.  At  the  same  time, 
he  was  warned  by  the  Judge,  that  if  he  were  convicted  of  a  similar  offence 
again,  he  would  go  to  the  Penetentiary. 

A  few  months  after  this,  our  attention  was  called  to  a  bill  introduced  in  the 
Legislature  by  Senator  Cullen,  a  brother-in-law  of  Michael  Kane,  which,  if  suc- 
cessful, would  not  only  have  frustrated  all  our  efforts,  but  would  virtually  re- 
move all  power  from  the  Board  of  Health  and  the  Courts,  and  enable  him  to 
keep  an  accumulation  in  the  upper  part  of  the  city.  We  took  immediate  action 
to  protest  against  this  bill,  and  appointed  a  committee  from  the  Association, 
to  proceed  to  Albany  at  once.  With  this  committee  of  ladies,  were  a  commit- 
tee from  the  Academy  of  Medicine,  one  from  the  Board  of  Health,  and  one 
from  the  Society  for  Improving  the  Condition  of  the  Poor.  On  our  arrival, 
we  learned  the  bill  had  passed  the  Senate,  and  was  in  the  Assembly,  but  after 
a  hearing  before  the  Governor,  and  two  days'  hard  work,  the  ladies  had  the  sat- 
isfaction of  defeating  the  bill,  the  gentlemen  of  the  other  committees  giv- 
ing them  the  credit  for  it. 

Pits  under  the  sidewalk  were  used  both  by  public  and  private  stables. 
The  refuse  was  allowed  to  remain  in  these  pits  for  months  at  a  time,  there 
to  decay,  and  send  up  foul  odors  with  every  change  of  weather.  When 
finally  removed,  it  was  forked  onto  the  sidewalk,  from  thence  into  the  carts, 
to  the  great  annoyance  of  the  passer-by,  and  then  to  the  dumps,  littering 
the  streets  through  which  they  passed.  When  finally  dumped,  it  was  left  for 
years  for  the  ripening  process.  Meantime,  with  a  permit  from  the  Health 
Board,  it  was  forked  over  again  and  again,  thus  separating  the  straw,  as  this 
too  has  a  commercial  value,  and  the  separating  greatly  enhanced  the  value  of 
the  refuse  as. a  fertilizer.  While  this  was  in  progress  the  atmosphere,  (par- 
ticularly if  heavy)  was  polluted  for  twenty  surrounding  blocks,  compelling 


52 


residents  within  that  area  to  close  their  windows.  Our  first  work  was  to 
urge  the  Board  of  Health  to  prohibit  the  use  of  these  pits,  which  was  finally 
done,  and  stablemen  compelled  to  load  the  refuse  on  the  premises  with  closed 
doors.  Even  the  Fire  Department  stables  had  to  conform  to  this  rule.  Ven- 
tilation was  secured  through  the  roof,  for  confining  the  odor  meant  to  ruin 
the  carriages,  thereby  showing  if  injurious  to  a  varnished  surface  how  much 
more  so  to  the  delicate  membrane  of  human  throats. 

After  a  few  months'  respite,  Michael  Kane's  nuisance  began  anew.  Instead 
of  using  the  dumping  grounds,  they  stationed  immense  floats  around  the  dock, 
and  made  a  dumping  ground  out  of  them.  Not  only  they  made  a  dumping 
ground  out  of  them,  but  they  raked,  sorted,  and  separated  the  straw  under 
the  docks  and  behind  fences.  They  dodged  us  in  every  direction,  and  as  the 
Board  of  Health  was  favorable  to  them,  we  were  helpless  until  President 
Wilson  assumed  the  office. 

He  personally  investigated  every  dump,  and  every  stable  of  any  note,  and 
by  that,  learned  the  necessity  of  giving  us  a  helping  hand.  He  therefore 
summoned  this  firm,  as  we  threatened  to  indict  them  again  ;  they  appeared 
with  their  council,  whose  reputation  as  a  lawyer  was  well  established  ;  we 
had  a  fierce  battle  to  fight,  but  were  finally  victorious.  They  had  to  conduct 
the  business  in  a  manner  more  in  accordance  with  sanitary  laws.  All  per- 
mits for  raking  and  separating  the  straw  were  revoked,  and  we  could  breath 
once  more. 

Our  next  attention  was  given  to  the  investigation  of  small  stables.  Many  of 
the  small  stables  were  situated  in  the  rear  of  tenement  houses,  occupied  by  bak- 
ers, butchers  and  grocers.  In  some  instances  the  horses  had  to  be  led  through 
the  stores,  hallways  and  even  through  living  rooms  into  the  stable.  In  order 
to  remove  these  stables,  we  had  many  consultations  with  the  officers  of  the 
Board  of  Health,  and,  as  it  was  proven  that  these  stables  were  a  positive  detri- 
ment to  young  children,  they  were  crowded  out  of  the  tenement  house  district 
into  regular  stables,  where  they  can  be  under  the  supervision  of  the  Health 
Department,  so  that  the  fact  remains  that  not  a  single  stable  is  allowed  in 
these  localities  at  the  present  day. 

Although  the  nuisance  was  greatly  abated,  with  the  best  efforts  of  the 
Health  Department,  there  were  about  4,385  stables  to  supervise.  Between 
the  stablemen  and  the  contractors  the  work  is  immense.  With  the  consent  of  the 
Board  of  Health,  we  thought  it  best  to  make  a  radical  improvement  by  taking 
Legislative  action,  in  order  to  put  the  refuse  in  a  compressed  state,  either  in 
bales  or  in  barrels.  We  also  had  the  endorsement  of  the  lights  of  the  medical 
profession,  such  as  Doctors  A.  Jacobi,  Stephen  Smith,  E.  G.  Janeway,  D.  B. 
St.  John  Roosa,  F.  R.  Sturgis,  Timothy  F.  Allen,  Homer  H.  Ostrom  and 
other  physicians,  together  with  such  eminent  chemists  as  C.  F.  Chandler  and 
R.  Ogden  Doremus. 

After  our  bill  was  favorably  reported  in  the  Assembly,  the  stablemen  came 
to  Albany  in  swarms.  The  result  was,  might  predominated  over  right,  and  we 
were  told  that  our  bill  would  never  get  out  of  the  Senate  Committee  Room, 
which  proved  to  be  a  fact.  We  did  not  look  upon  this  as  a  defeat,  as  we 
convinced  the  community  at  large  of  the  necessity  of  this  action.  The  Board 
of  Health  proposed  to  enact  a  clause  in  their  Sanitary  Code,  providing  for  the 
refuse  to  be  removed  in  its  fresh  state  every  24  hours.  We  accepted  this  as 
an  experiment.  Since  this  ordinance,  about  400  Criminal  Notices  for  not  re- 
moving manure  daily,  or  baling  same  as  required  by  Sec.  100,  Sanitary  Code, 


58 


were  sent  out,  200  civil  suits  brought,  300  nuisances  abated  on  Criminal 
Notices. 

We  hope  before  the  expiration  of  the  present  year  the  nuisance  will  be 
abated,  not  only  to  our  satisfaction,  but  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  whole 
community. 

CECILIA  E.  FENDLER. 


This  excellent  paper  was  followed  by  one  on  Slaughter 
Houses,  read  by  Mrs.  Clara  M.  Williams,  written  by  the 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Slaughter  Houses,  Mrs.  S. 
Baum  : 

CONDITION  OF  SLAUGHTER  HOUSES 
AND  SYSTEM  OF  SLAUGHTERING  IN  NEW  YORK 

before  and  since  the  organization  of  the 
Ladies'  Health  Protective  Association. 

Of  all  the  different  branches  of  work  taken  up  by  this  Association,  the 
greatest  results  were  achieved  in  the  reform  of  the  condition  of  the  slaughter 
houses. 

If  we  go  back  to  our  earliest  recollections  of  the  same,  it  seems  almost 
incredible,  that  such  a  state  of  affairs  could  have  existed  in  such  a  great  city, 
and  would  probably  still  exist,  had  not  this  band  of  brave  women,  in  spite  of  the 
annoyances  and  abuses  which  they  had  to  encounter,  armed  with  the  deter- 
mination of  ridding  the  suffering  community  of  this  great  nuisance,  declared 
war  against  the  originators. 

The  slaughter  houses  were  located  from  Forty- third  to  Forty-seventh 
Streets,  First  Avenue  to  the  East  River,  and  from  Thirty-ninth  to  Forty-first 
Streets,  and  Eleventh  Avenue  and  the  Hudson  River,  and  extreme  West 
Fifty-ninth  Street. 

The  attention  of  the  Association  was  first  drawn  to  this  prevailing  nuis- 
ance, by  the  disgusting  odors  which  emanated  therefrom,  permeating  the 
atmosphere  for  blocks  around  them. 

Those  on  the  east  side  were  the  first  investigated.  The  Committee  found 
a  mass  of  tumble-down  buildings,  reeking  with  the  odors  of  putrid  blood, 
which  the  wooden  flooring  had  absorbed  for  years.  They  numbered 
fifty  five. 

Upon  request,  Dr.  John  C.  Peters,  at  that  time,  the  greatest  authority  on 
Sanitary  Science,  accompanied  the  Committee,  and  proved  that  the  blood  had 
been  absorbed  down  to  the  very  foundation. 

The  slaughtering  was  done  with  doors  wide  open,  before  which  crowds 
of  spectators  were  gathered,  including  school  boys  of  all  ages.    The  small 


54 


stock,  (sheep  and  lambs)  were  killed  in  the  cellars  of  these  buildings,  right  at 
the  entrance,  and  here  the  smallest  children  of  both  sexes  could  be  seen  daily, 
watching  with  eagerness,  so  that  the  sight  of  blood  had  no  more  effect  upon 
them  than  so  much  running  water. 

Live  cattle  were  driven  in  herds  through  the  streets,  endangering  the  lives 
of  thousands  of  persons. 

While  slaughtering,  they  committed  the  cruelty  of  letting  the  other  victims 
watch  the  last  agonies  of  their  mates,  and  the  dumb  creatures  seemed  to  know 
what  was  in  store  for  them. 

To  pass  on  the  side  of  the  street  where  the  abattoirs  were  situated,  was 
almost  an  impossibility,  so  thronged  were  the  sidewalks  with  wagons,  ready 
to  receive  the  beef,  which  hung  od  the  edge  of  curb,  upon  hooks,  driven  into 
wooden  bars.  This  beef  not  only  accumulated  all  the  dust  and  dirt  flying 
about,  but  was  also  a  convenient  rendezvous  for  all  the  flies  in  the  neighbor- 
hood. The  sidewalk  and  roadway  were  littered  with  pieces  of  hides,  hoof 
and  intestines,  and  little  pools  of  blood  could  be  seen  everywhere. 

Several  appeals  were  made  to  the  Board  of  Health,  of  which  Gen.  Schaler 
was  then  President,  but  no  satisfactory  results  were  achieved.  So  the 
Association  determined  to  take  steps  to  drive  this  business  from  the  city. 

An  investigation  of  Mr.  T.  Eastman's  abattoir  on  West  Fiity-ninth  Street, 
convinced  the  ladies  that  slaughtering  in  the  city  could  be  carried  on  without 
being  objectionable,  as  Mr.  T.  Eastman  had  spared  no  cost  in  placing  in  his 
establishment,  such  appliances  as  would  render  the  business  both  clean  and 
unobjectionable.  The  proprietors  of  the  other  abattoirs  were  requested  to 
put  similar  improvements  into  their  buildings.  This  resulted  in  promises 
which  were  never  realized,  and  tbe  Association  finally  prepared  a  bill,  re- 
questing that  no  slaughtering  should  be  permitted  below  Spuyten  Duyvel, 
and  sent  the  same  to  Albany.  It  was  presented  by  Senator  Gibbs  of  the 
Senate,  and  Gen.  Barnum  in  the  Assembly. 

Whilst  the  bill  was  pending,  Messrs.  Rafferty  &  Williams,  who  owned  a 
bone  boiling  establishment  in  the  midst  of  the  slaughtering  houses  on  the 
east  side,  sent  word  to  the  Association  that  they  would  be  willing  to  pay 
$3,000.00  yearly,  to  any  inspector  which  the  Association  might  appoint,  in 
order  to  assure  the  ladies  that  they  would  keep  their  factory  in  a  sanitary 
condition.  The  ladies  refused  to  enter  upon  any  negotiations,  and  the  sub- 
ject was  dropped. 

Owing  to  the  wealth  of  the  butchers,  who  brought  all  their  influence  to 
bear,  (fearing  the  results,  should  the  Association  be  successful,)  the  bill  pre- 
sented by  the  L.  H.  P.  A.  was  defeated 

This  did  not  discourage  the  ladies,  however ;  the  defeat  only  added  to  their 
zeal,  and  they  were  determined  to  prepare  another  bill,  hoping  to  be  more 
successful  the  following  year. 

At  about  this  time,  a  bill  was  presented  at  Albany  by  Messrs.  White  & 
Company,  requesting  the  privilege  of  killing  swine,  promising  not  to  extend 
their  business  beyond  West  40th  and  41st  Streets  on  the  river  front.  Senator 
Gibbs  and  General  Barnum  objected  to  the  presentation  of  this  bill,  without 
the  sanction  of  the  L.  H.  P.  A. 

After  investigating,  the  ladies  finally  gave  their  consent,  as  that  would 
concentrate  the  swine  killing  to  one  section  of  the  city,  whereas  they  were 
at  the  time  killing  in  many  places,  scattered  throughout  the  entire  city. 

Shortly  after  the  defeat  of  the  bill,  a  meeting  was  called  by  our  Association, 
to  which  the  proprietors  of  the  principal  abattoirs  were  invited.  This 


56 

resulted  in  a  compromise,  the  ladies  agreeing  not  to  send  in  another  bill,  if 
the  proprietors  would  act  upon  suggestions  for  improvements,  of  which  the 
most  important  ones  were  the  substituting  of  asphalt  flooring  instead  of 
wooden  ones,  proper  drainage,  iron  bars  upon  which  the  beef  was  to  be  hung 
indoors,  cattle  to  be  driven  no  longer  through  the  street,  and  to  give  the  poor 
animals  proper  care  in  the  pens,  such  as  good  ventilation  and  plenty  of  water 
to  drink,  which  had  formerly  been  neglected,  and  not  to  let  them  watch  the 
last  throes  of  their  mates. 

The  first  steps  toward  improvements  were  made  by  Messrs.  Schwartzchild 
&  Sulzberger,  who  built  a  model  abattoir,  between  East  45-46  streets, 
occupying  a  space  which  had  been  taken  up  by  twenty  different  parties. 

When  the  abattoir  was  completed,  the  L.  H.  P.  A.  was  invited  to  come  and 
inspect  the  same  ;  a  large  Committee  accepted  the  invitation,  and  were  highly 
pleased  with  the  result. 

Messrs.  Rafferty  &  Williams,  who  still  continued  to  create  a  nuisance,  to 
the  annoyance  of  thousands  of  people,  were,  through  our  efforts,  compelled 
by  the  Board  of  Health  to  close  their  businesss. 

Following  Messrs.  Schwartzchild  &  Sulzberger,  Mr.  Fleishhauer  erected  a 
small  abattoir  for  killing  small  stock,  and  last,  but  by  no  means  least,  the 
United  Dressed  Beef  Co.  erected  a  magnificent  abattoir  on  the  S.  E.  corner 
of  East  45th  Street,  occupying  almost  a  square  block,  which  consolidated  the 
remaining  small  concerns. 

Now  that  one  of  the  objectionable  parts  of  slaughtering  business  had  been 
overcome,  other  evils  arose. 

As  the  new  abattoirs  had  been  built  on  a  very  large  and  improved  plan, 
the  proprietors  had  also  put  into  these  buildings  all  appliances  necessary  for 
utilizing  every  part  of  the  slaughtered  animal. 

The  blood,  and  entrails,  which  had  formerly  been  collected  and  sent  to 
Barren  Island,  to  be  utilized,  were  now  converted  into  a  fertilizer  by  means 
of  a  machine  called  a  Dryer,  and  although  no  means  were  spared,  and  every 
appliance  known  to  science  was  tried,  they  could  not  prevent  nauseating 
odors  from  pervading  the  atmosphere,  and  the  neighborhood  for  blocks 
around  suffered  as  much  as  previously. 

Our  Association  applied  to  the  Board  of  Health  for  relief. 

Hon.  Charles  G.  Wilson,  President  of  the  Board,  received  the  delegation  of 
our  Association  kindly,  and  listened  patiently  to  our  grievances.  An  In- 
spector was  placed  at  our  commands,  and  as  often  as  we  wrote  or  telephoned 
our  complaints,  Inspectors  were  sent  to  investigate  the  cause.  Sometimes 
the  odors  were  caused  by  an  imperfection  in  the  pipes  or  condensers  ;  some- 
times by  rendering  of  old  fat. 

It  was  finally  disclosed  that  most  of  the  establishments,  not  only  collected 
the  leavings  or  shop  fat  from  all  the  retail  butchers  in  the  city,  but  also 
bought  up  the  same  from  all  available  cities. 

The  Board  of  Health  granted  a  hearing  to  all  the  large  dealers,  desiring 
them  to  show  cause  why  permits  to  continue  this  state  of  affairs  should  not 
be  revoked. 

It  was  learned  that  most  of  the  dealers  had  been  carrying  on  business  in 
this  manner,  without  any  permits  at  all. 

Our  Association  entered  a  protest  against  any  permits  being  granted  for 
bringing  fat  into  the  city. 

A  resolution  was  passed  by  the  Board  of  Health,  prohibiting  fat  from 
being  brought  into  the  city,  with  the  exception  of  large  pieces  or  long  fat, 


56 


which  could  be  brought  from  adjacent  cities  without  being  packed,  simply 
placed  upon  covered  wagons. 

Owing  to  our  untiring  zeal,  and  constant  vigilance  on  the  part  of  the 
inspectors  from  the  Health  Board,  and  committees  on  slaughter  houses  of  our 
Association,  the  proprietors  of  abattoirs  had  found  it  to  their  advantage,  to 
leave  no  means  untried  in  order  to  prevent  their  business  from  being 
offensive,  and  we  are  now  able  to  say,  that  the  business  is  nearing  a  state  of 
perfection  which  will  leave  but  little  room  for  complaint. 

Through  our  efforts  an  ordinance  was  recently  passed,  prohibiting  any 
meat  or  poultry  being  hung  outside  the  retail  butcher  shops,  to  be  exposed 
to  microbes  of  the  air.  No  one  realizes  the  benefit  of  this  ordinance  better 
than  the  butchers  themselves,  although  they  were  at  first  greatly  opposed  to 
the  same. 

This  is  a  summary  of  the  work  accomplished  during  the  past  twelve  years, 
with  a  number  of  minor  details,  for  which  we  have  no  time  here.  We  still 
hope  to  attain  that  state  of  perfection  in  this  branch  of  our  work,  that  will 
necessitate  the  dissolution  of  the  Committee  on  Slaughter  Houses,  to  seek 
work  in  more  necessary  branches  of  reform. 

SARA  BAUM. 


The  Mayor  then  called  on  the  Committee  on  Gas  Houses, 
and  the  following  paper  written  by  Mrs.  J.  N.  Conner, 
Chairman,  read  by  Mrs.  Mercedes  Legh. 

In  1885  the  following  problem  was  presented  for  solution  to  the  Ladies 
Health  Protective  Association : 

"  How  can  the  noxious  odors  incident  to  the  manufacture  of  gas  in  New 
York  City,  be  obviated  ?  "  Many  complaints  in  regard  to  an  alleged  nuisance, 
arising  from  the  generation  of  gas,  had  been  received  by  this  Association 
from  those  who  were  compelled  by  circumstances,  to  live  or  work  in  prox- 
imity to  the  various  gas-houses  in  this  city. 

At  the  meeting  of  this  Association,  held  in  the  Autumn  of  1885,  a  committee 
composed  of  five  members  was  appointed  for  the  following  purposes  :  First, 
to  ascertain  the  cause  of  the  alleged  nuisance  ;  Second,  to  suggest  and  enforce 
proper  remedies,  leading  to  the  suppression  of  such  nuisance,  if  found.  As  a 
preliminary  step  towards  fulfilling  the  first  duty  of  this  committee,  we  were, 
after  much  difficulty,  and  through  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  Grahame,  enabled  to 
inspect  the  works  then  just  erected  on  First  Avenue,  between  39th  and  42d 
streets. 

First  we  were  conducted  to  the  so-called  purifying  room,  where  the  gas, 
as  received  from  the  retorts,  is  passed  through  boxes  containing  chloride  of 
lime,  in  order  that  certain  impurities  may  be  eliminated.  From  the  lime 
purifiers,  the  gas  is  pumped  through  scrubbers,  scourers,  etc.  ;  and  finally 
into  the  storage  tanks  familiar  to  us  all.  In  itself  the  process  is  entirely 
inodorless,  but  the  companies,  in  order  to  save  expense,  open  the  purifying 
boxes,  for  the  purpose  of  removing  the  oxide  of  iron,  which  has  absorbed  most 


of  the  noxious  elements  contained  in  the  crude  gas,  and  expose  the  same 
in  the  open  air,  so  that  the  odors  are  diffused,  and  render  existence  almost 
intolerable  in  the  neighborhood.  After  many  consultations  with  the  Health 
Department  of  this  city,  we  finally  induced  them  to  station  eight  inspectors, 
and  a  deputy  chief,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  gas  works  for  a  period  of  thirty 
days.  During  this  peroid  an  explosion  occurred  in  the  works  of  the  Equit- 
able Gas  Co.,  killing  one  man  and  wounding  several  in  addition.  After  this 
explosion,  the  president  of  the  company  admitted  that  improvments  might  be 
made  in  the  method  of  manufacture  of  gas,  but  that  the  company  had  hesi- 
tated to  institute  them,  for  economical  reasons.  The  initial  outlay  being 
great. 

In  1889,  Mayor  Grant  appointed  Charles  G.  Wilson,  President  of  the  Board 
of  Health.  Shortly  after  his  installation,  Mrs.  Fendler,  the  chairman  of  the 
committee,  drafted  a  presentment  to  the  Board  of  Health,  calling  their 
attention  to  the  objectionable  features  in  the  manufacture  of  gas,  as  then 
conducted.  Mr.  Wilson,  with  his  colleagues,  immediately  took  steps  toward 
the  supression  of  the  nuisance,  and  the  Board  instituted  proceedings  to 
compel  the  abatement  of  the  same.  Mr.  Grahame,  President  of  the  Equitable 
Gas  Co.,  at  that  time  was  indicted  for  maintaining  a  nuisance  ;  tried  and 
convicted,  but  upon  his  promise  to  alleviate  the  nuisance,  sentence  was 
suspended.  Further  complaints  were  received  from  the  west  side.  The 
officers  of  the  companies  were  interviewed,  denied  responsibility,  and  alleged 
that  the  objectionable  odors  arose  from  other  sources.  Your  committee 
ascertained  that  the  nuisance  was  most  pronounced  at  night,  and  the  President 
of  the  Health  Board,  with  Mrs.  Ravenhill,  former  chairman  of  your  com- 
mittee, made  an  inspection  at  10  P.  M.  one  evening,  of  the  district 
from  which  complaints  had  been  made.  They  learned  that  the 
objectionable  odors  arose  from  the  gas  works,  situated  on  West  19th  Street, 
and  were  caused  by  the  leaving  open  of  the  lime  purifying  boxes.  The 
officials  of  the  Gas  Company  were  warned  by  Mr.  Wilson,  and  since  then  com- 
plaints have  been  received  less  frequently. 

Colonel  Dellahanty  last  Autumn,  issued  orders  compelling  the  Equitable 
Gas  Company,  to  find  a  means  before  the  1st  of  April  of  this  year,  to  prevent 
the  waste  oil  from  emptying  into  the  river,  and  thereby  polluting  the  air  with 
its  noxious  odors.  Unless  this  change  was  made  within  the  time  mentioned, 
they  would  be  forced  to  remove  their  plant  outside  the  city  limits.  At 
present  the  oil  is  emptied  into  a  boat,  which  is  placed  under  the  tank,  thereby 
lessening  the  nuisance  in  a  measure.  The  Equitable  Company  have  proposed, 
as  an  improvement  upon  their  present  method  of  purifying,  to  pump  the  air 
into  the  boxes,  through  a  six  inch  tube,  passing  from  it  into  another  eight 
inch  tube,  and  thus  allowing  the  gases  to  pass  into  or  under  the  water,  thus 
obviating  the  necessity  of  uncovering  the  boxes.  Mrs.  R.  K.  Kohut,  Chair- 
man of  the  Gas  Committee  on  the  east  side  of  the  city,  with  Mrs.  C.  Fendler, 
and  other  members  of  her  Committee,  have  been  most  zealous  in  their  efforts 
to  indentify  the  odors,  as  the  Equitable  Gas  Company  have  always  main- 
tained that  their  plant  was  not  the  real  source  of  complaint  In  order  to  be 
able  to  state  accurately  in  their  complaint  to  the  Board  of  Health,  the  day  and 
hour,  several  of  the  Committee  have,  at  different  times,  with  an  escort, 
visited  the  sections  complained  of,  as  late  as  ten  and  eleven  o'clock  at  night. 
The  abatement  of  this  nuisance  is  due  to  the  unceasing  vigilance  of  the 
members  of  said  Committee. 


Among  the  benefits  obtained  directly  by  this  Committee,  is  the  covering  of 
the  boxes  containing  the  oxide  of  iron,  used  as  a  purifying  agent  by  several 
companies,  with  tar  cloth,  thus  preventing  the  escape  of  objectionable  odors. 
The  Standard  Gas  Company  only  expose  their  sponge,  at  such  times  as  the 
air  is  in  the  direction  to  blow  the  odors  away  from  the  city.  The  Equitable 
Gas  Company  has  been  forced  to  discontinue  the  former  practice  of  exposing 
on  its  piers  and  wharves,  the  sponge  removed  from  the  purifying  boxes. 
Your  committee,  in  closing  this  brief  report,  take  pleasure  in  stating  that  the 
officials  of  the  Standard  Gas  Company,  have  been  most  uniformly  courteous 
in  their  dealings  with  this  Association,  and  have  evinced  a  sincere  desire  to 
assist  us  in  suppressing  the  nuisances  complained  of. 

J.  N.  CONNOR. 

The  next  in  sequence  was  the  paper  on  Sanitary  Condi- 
tion of  Streets,  written  by  Mrs.  Genie  H.  Rosenfeld,  and 
read  by  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee,  Miss  T.  Barcalow  : 

STREET  CLEANING  COMMITTEE. 

The  history  of  the  struggle  of  this  Association  with  the  Street  Cleaning 
Department  is  too  lengthy  to  be  given  in  the  space  of  a  five  minutes  paper. 
It  would  fill  a  good  sized  volume. 

One  of  the  first  efforts  of  our  Society  was  for  the  proper  sprinkling  of  the 
streets.  It  was  the  rule  of  the  Department  that  no  sprinkling  should  be  done 
until  the  month  of  May,  and  no  matter  how  dry  or  dusty  March  and  April 
might  be,  no  sprinkling  was  attempted  until  the  calendar  said  it  was  time. 

Such  little  sweeping  as  was  done  in  former  times,  was  carried  along  blithely 
in  all  the  blustering  winds  of  March  and  the  dusty  days  of  April,  without 
the  help  of  sprinklers  to  lay  the  dust,  and  the  unfortunate  citizens  had  to  get 
powdered  and  choked  with  dust,  and  make  the  best  of  it.  The  calendar  said 
April  was  a  showery  month,  and  did  its  own  sprinkling,  and  if  the  weather 
misbehaved  itself,  that  was  no  reason  why  the  Department  should  change  its 
accustomed  routine.  We  appealed  to  the  Mayor  and  the  Commissioner ;  we 
urged  that  the  allowance  made  for  the  work  was  insufficient,  and  that  the  best 
results  could  not  be  expected  without  a  larger  appropriation.  All  in  vain. 
It  seemed  as  though  New  York  was  to  vie  with  Cologne  for  the  palm,  and 
was  to  become  the  Banner  dirty  and  malodorous  city  of  the  world. 

But  that  has  all  been  changed  ;  wTe  have  our  Waring,  and  our  White  Wings, 
and  the  City  can  congratulate  itself  upon  having  an  era  of  cleanliness  and 
comfort.  We  who  have  struggled,  and  complained  and  appealed  for  ten 
years  against  the  mismanagement  of  the  department  of  the  City's  housekeep- 
ing, are  fully  appreciating  the  order,  system  and  precision  with  which  the 
work  is  now  being  carried  on. 

Our  street  cleaning  troubles  seem  nearly  over,  and  when  we  have  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  the  care  of  the  sidewalks  under  the  Street  Cleaning  Depart- 
ment, we  shall  feel  that  we  can  rest  for  awhile  on  our  laurels. 


69 

The  sidewalk  question  is  vexing  us  a  great  deal.  The  statement  made  at 
one  of  Colonel  Waring's  conferences  that  the  streets  were  now  cleaner  than 
the  sidewalks,  is  perfectly  true.  It  seems  amazing  what  little  pride  the 
average  citizen  takes  in  the  front  of  his  house.  Blinds  and  curtains  and 
ribbons  and  frippery,  are  artistically  arranged  in  the  windows,  and  the  front 
stoop  is  kept  passably  clean,  but  the  sidewalk  can  become  a  skating  pond  of 
grease,  before  the  householder  will  think  fit  to  clear  it  off.  In  a  block  in  my 
street,  seven  houses  wash  their  sidewalks  off  every  Saturday — the  rest  haven't 
been  washed  since  the  last  rain.  There  are  thirty  odd  houses  each  side  of  the 
street.  We  are  working  on  this  point,  and  hope  to  have  an  ordinance  ai  no 
very  late  date,  insisting  that  the  sidewalks  must  be  cleaned  every  morning 
during  certain  hours. 

The  matter  that  troubles  us  most  in  the  Street  Cleaning  Department,  is  the 
disposal  of  garbage.  Our  present  system  is  a  very  wasteful  one.  Knowing 
that  crematories  had  been  erected  and  successfully  operated  in  Buffalo, 
Pittsburg,  Des  Moines,  Milwaukee,  Chicago,  Detroit,  WilmiDgton  and  New- 
port, as  far  back  as  18S9  we  began  to  investigate  this  question. 

Learning  that  a  small  crematory  was  at  work  on  Coney  Island,  consuming 
the  waste  from  the  hotels,  we  visited  it,  and  finding  it  satisfactory,  we  sought 
the  services  of  General  Egbert  L.  Viele,  one  of  our  most  prominent  sanitary 
engineers,  and  engaged  him  to  inspect  the  Merz  Cremator  in  Buffalo. 

In  his  report  he  states  "The  process  deals  exclusively  with  the  kitchen 
refuse.  This  is  kept  separate  and  collected  separately  at  the  houses.  The 
inhabitants  are  forbidden  by  law,  to  mix  garbage  with  other  refuse.  The 
bones  are  ground  for  fertilizers,  the  rags  used  for  manufacture  of  paper,  the 
remnants  of  tin  cans  are  melted  to  recover  the  tin,  the  oil  matter  is  used  for 
soaps  or  lubricators,  and  the  ashes  mixed  with  other  constituents  to  form 
other  fertilizers." 

We  visited  another  process  of  utilization,  where  the  garbage  was  reduced 
by  naphtha,  and  a  lubricator  and  fertilizers  made  from  it— and  we  visited  yet 
another  crematory  in  Washington,  the  Brown,  which  required  the  separation 
of  the  ashes  from  the  garbage,  and  reduced  the  matter  to  a  fertilizer,  market- 
able at  ten  dollars  a  ton.  Dead  animals  were  also  consumed,  and  the  whole 
business  carried  on  in  an  expeditious,  cleanly  manner,  without  much  expense, 
and  without  the  slightest  odor. 

We  also  examined  the  Engle  Cremator,  which  consumed  both  ashes  and 
garbage,  and  which  reduced  the  refuse  to  a  fertilizer.  While  we  do  not 
especially  commend  any  one  system  of  disposing  of  the  city's  waste,  we  cer- 
tainly would  like  to  see  a  system  in  use  that  did  not  require  the  separation 
of  the  ashes  from  the  garbage.  Our  reason  for  this  is,  that  the  garbage  or 
kitchen  refuse,  being  a  combination  of  animal  and  vegetable  matter  already 
in  a  state  of  decomposition,  is  liable  to  become  very  offensive  in  the  summer 
weather,  and  breed  disease  and  fever  in  the  crowded  tenement  districts. 
The  garbage  can,  unless  treated  with  the  greatest  care,  and  rinstd  with  hot 
soda  and  water  once  or  twice  a  week,  will  soon  breed  foul  kinds  of  life,  and 
give  off  a  sickening  odor.  The  mixing  of  ashes  with  the  organic  matter 
deodorizes  it,  and  at  the  same  time  disinfects  it,  and  is  decidedly  healthier. 

There  is,  however,  a  system  in  use  in  Buffalo,  in  connection  with  the  "Merz" 
which  disinfects  the  cans  while  they  are  being  emptied.  Each  garbage  cart  has 
a  sprinkling  apparatus  attached  to  it ;  and  the  driver,  as  he  empties  the  can, 
sprinkles  it  with  a  disinfectant,  subsequently  cleaning  his  own  cart  by  the 
same  method,  after  dumping  the  garbage  at  the  place  of  delivery.    It  seems 


60 

to  take  from  the  cans  all  obnoxious  odors  which  would  otherwise  emanate 
from  them.  By  washing  and  scraping  once  a  week,  they  can  be  kept  perfectly 
wholesome,  and  the  system  of  cleaning  the  cans  at  the  time  of  dumping,  pre- 
vents any  odors  from  accumulating  in  them. 

We  protest  most  strongly  against  the  business  of  trimming  of  scows,  the 
raking  over  of  the  scows  to  elimininate  the  saleable  rubbish  discarded  from 
the  houses,  is  a  dangerous  practice  and  should  be  abolished.  Contagious 
diseases  are  undoubtedly  disseminated  among  us,  from  the  overhauling  of  the 
rubbish  from  a  great  city  like  this. 

We  are  glad  that  the  dumping  of  the  city's  waste  in  the  Lower  Bay  will  soon 
be  a  thing  of  the  past — we  understand  that  the  time  for  doing  this  has  been 
extended  till  July  1st  of  this  year,  and  we  earnestly  trust  that  nothing  may 
prevent  the  finding  and  arranging  of  a  proper  and  healthful  disposal  of  the 
city's  waste  before  that  time,  that  the  horrors  of  last  year  may  not  be 
repeated.  The  hotel  keepers  of  Arverne,  Rockaway,  and  several  of  the 
towns  on  the  Lower  Bay,  sent  a  petition  to  the  Association,  begging  us  to 
aid  them  in  ridding  themselves  of  this  nuisance,  which  last  year  spoiled  the 
bathing  business  along  the  whole  beach,  as  at  certain  tides,  all  kinds  of  waste, 
refuse  and  rubbish  were  cast  up  along  the  shore.  While  sympathizing  with 
the  hotel  proprietors,  and  being  willing  to  aid  them,  we  entered  upon  this 
crusade,  more  that  our  citizens  might  not  be  deprived  of  the  comfort  and 
pleasure  of  a  bath  at  the  various  beautiful  beaches  so  happily  near  us. 

We  earnestly  hope  that  this  summer,  everyone  who  wants  a  surf  bath,  may 
be  able  to  enjoy  one  without  disporting  himself  among  melon  rinds  and 
straw  bottle  covers,  we  shall  do  all  we  can  to  bring  this  Utoptian  state  of 
affairs  about,  in  this  line,  as  in  every  other  that  comes  under  the  care  of  this 
committee. 

GENIE  H.  ROSEXFELD. 

The  Recording  Secretary,  Mrs.  Genie  H.  Rosenfeld,  in  the 
absence  of  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  in  School  Hygiene, 
Mrs.  Charlotte  Errani.  read  the  following  report  : 

SCHOOL  HYGIENE. 

A  great  deal  of  highly  satisfactory  work  has  been  done  in  this  department, 
but  a  great  deal  still  remains  to  do,  for  while  the  Board  of  Education  is  doing 
all  in  its  power  to  meet  the  ever-increasing  demand  for  commodious  and  well 
ventilated  schools,  the  appropriation  for  schools  is  entirely  inadequate  to  the 
requirements.  Although  the  Commissioners  have  listened  to  all  the  Associ- 
ation's complaints,  and  endeavored  to  comply  with  the  requests  made  them, 
they  have  been  confronted  with  the  grave  fact  that  if  they  condemned  and 
closed  those  schools  in  the  lower  part  of  the  city,  which  are  ill-ventilated, 
badly  lighted,  and  have  insufficient  sanitary  arrangements,  they  would  turn 
upon  the  streets  thousands  of  children,  and  deprive  them  of  means  of  obtain- 
ing an  education,  and  at  the  same  time  so  frightfully  overcrowd  the  other 
schools  in  the  vicinity,  that  their  condition  would  be  worse  than  the  con- 


61 

demned  schools.  In  this  dilemma  it  has  been  thought  wisest  to  make  the 
best  of  such  schools  as  exist,  and  gradually  clear  them  out  and  replace  them 
with  fine  modern  buildings. 

During  the  past  three  years,  stables  have  been  removed  from  the  vicinity  of 
schools,  the  keeping  of  live  poultry  in  Essex  Market  has  been  prohibited,  as 
the  school  house  immediately  abuts  on  the  Market,  and  the  odors  and  cackling 
of  the  poultry  were  detrimental  to  health.  Proper  places  for  hanging  the 
coats  of  children  are  now  provided  in  most  of  the  schools,  and  the  time  of 
their  having  to  fold  up  and  sit  on  their  little  rain  soaked  garments,  has  gone 
by  forever. 

Many  complaints  of  insufficient  light,  and  noisy  localities  that  make  both 
teaching  and  learning  a  strain,  are  sent  to  the  Association.  It  is  hoped,  in 
time,  these  may  all  be  relieved. 

The  following  short  report  from  Mrs.  C.  Holt,  one  of  the  members  of  our 
Committee  on  School  Hygiene,  may  be  interesting : 

Plans  and  contracts  are  now  under  way  for  seven  new  school  buildings  ; 
plans  have  been  completed  since  July  last  for  the  new  school  building  at 
Henry,  Oliver  and  Catherine  Streets,  in  the  Fourth  Ward,  but  work  cannot 
proceed  until  title  to  the  property  is  secured  ;  condemnation  proceedings 
having  been  in  progress  some  seventeen  months. 

All  of  the  new  schools  and  annexes  have  improved  methods  of  heating  and 
ventilating,  a  supply  of  warmed  fresh  air  being  supplied  to  each  room  by 
means  of  fans,  or  blowers.  All  inlets  for  fresh  air  are  placed  about  eight 
feet  above  the  floor,  upon  a  level  with  the  window  sill. 

The  exits  for  foul  air  are  placed  as  near  the  floor  level  as  possible,  and 
those  for  superheated  air  near  the  ceiling,  the  latter  remaining  closed  at  all 
times  unless  the  temperature  ranges  above  72°  Fahrenheit,  when  they  are 
automatically  opened,  and  then  closed  when  the  temperature  falls  to  70°. 

Many  of  the  old  school  buildings  have  had  improved  methods  of  ventila- 
tion installed  during  the  past  season.  It  is  difficult  to  accomplish  the 
required  amount  of  work  during  the  short  summer  vacations,  and  therefore 
but  slow  progress  can  be  made. 

Following  this,  came  a  paper  on  the  unsanitary  Feeding  and 
Care  of  Cows,  written  by  Mrs.  M.  E.  Schoen,  Chairman  of 
Committee,  and  read  by  Miss  Cynthia  Westover  : 

THE  UNSANITARY  FEEDING  AND  CARE  OF  COWS. 

In  the  year  1885,  I  found  existing  in  a  block  near  my  neighborhood,  bounded 
by  Fifth  and  Madison  Avenues,  between  Ninety-first  and  Ninety-second 
Streets,  a  horrible  state  of  affairs. 

The  entire  block  was  occupied  by  Italians, and  was  well-known  in  New  York  as 
"  Little  Italy."  The  miserable  shanties  were  in  a  most  filthy  condition,  having 
no  drainage,  and  no  water  facilities.  Yet  hundreds  of  those  poor  people  were 
paying  high  rents,  exacted  from  them  by  wealthy  proprietors,  and  living  in  a 
state  of  squalor  and  misery.    The  odors  emanating  from  these  places  were 


02 

such,  that  people  living  blocks  away  were  obliged  to  keep  their  windows 
closed.  Also  from  Eighty-ninth  to  Ninety-third  Streets,  there  were  kept  in 
confinement  more  than  three  hundred  cows,  in  little  stalls  without  drainage, 
or  water  facilities,  fed  on  brewers'  grains,  standing  in  their  own  filth,  and  the 
milk  from  these  cows  was  sold  for  pure  country  milk,  causing  a  great  deal 
of  sickness  and  death  in  families,  especially  among  young  children. 

I  made  a  statement  to  the  Ladies  Health  Protective  Association  in  regard 
to  the  matter,  and  also  became  a  member  of  the  Association.  We  immediate 
ly  formed  a  committee,  and  in  less  than  two  years  the  cows  were  gone,  the 
Italians  were  in  pleasant  healthful  quarters,  paying  less  rent  and  having  good 
water  facilities.  The  block  is  now  covered  by  private  residences,  worth 
hundreds  of  thousands. 

Goats  also  were  allowed  to  run  the  streets,  and  I  have  been  obliged  to  call 
upon  the  now  Chief  of  Police  Conlin,  who  was  then  Captain  of  Police  of  the 
88th  Precinct  to  "arrest"  the  goats,  to  keep  them  from  destroying  our  door 
mats,  and  otherwise  causing  great  annoyance.  I  am  happy  to  say  that 
this  is  but  a  small  proportion  of  the  grand  work  which  has  been  accomplished 
in  this  city  by  the  Ladies  Health  Protective  Association. 

M.  E.  SCHOEN. 


The  subject  of  the  Sanitary  Condition  of  Cars  was  next 
treated  in  a  paper  written  and  read  by  Mrs.  Genie  H.  Rosenfeld, 
who  prefaced  her  paper  with  an  extract  from  the  N.  Y.  Herald 
of  the  morning,  which  stated  that  spitting  in  public  had  been 
that  day  declared  illegal  by  the  Board  of  Health. 


"SPITTING  IN  PUBLIC  ILLEGAL. 

"  If  one  spits  on  the  floor  of  a  public  building,  railway  car  or  ferryboat  here- 
after he  is  liable  to  be  arrested  and  imprisoned  as  for  the  violation  of  other 
parts  of  the  Sanitary  Code  The  Board  of  Health  passed  a  resolution  disap- 
proving of  spitting  in  public  places  several  weeks  ago.  The  Board  made  the 
resolution  a  law  yesterday  afternoon,  by  adopting  it  as  section  222  of  the  Sani- 
tary Code.    The  resolution  reads  : 

Sec.  222 — Spitting  upon  the  floors  of  public  buildings  and  railroad  cars  and 
of  ferryboats  is  hereby  forbidden,  and  officers  in  charge  and  control  of  all  such 
buildings,  cars  and  boats  shall  keep  posted  in  such  public  buildings  and  in  each 
railroad  car  and  in  each  ferryboat  a  sufficient  number  of  notices  forbidding 
spitting  upon  the  floors,  and  janitors  of  buildings,  conductors  of  cars  and 
employees  upon  ferryboats  shall  call  the  attention  of  all  violators  of  this 
ordinance  to  such  notices. 

"  The  full  Board  voted  for  the  resolution." 


63 

5ANITARY  CONDITION  OF  CARS. 

The  work  of  the  Committee  on  the  Sanitary  Condition  of  Cars  has  been 
untiring,  and  if  energ)T  and  perseverance  are  of  any  use  in  the  world,  it  cannot 
be  very  long  before  success  crowns  our  efforts. 

In  our  records  of  six  years  ago,  we  find  notes  of  descents  upon  the  authori- 
ties to  get  "  prohibitory  placards"  placed  in  the  various  lines  of  street  cars. 

Six  years  ago  our  Society  was  alive  to  the  danger,  as  well  as  the  uncleanli- 
ness,  of  the  habit  of  expectorating  in  cars  and  public  places,  so  freely  indulged 
in  by  men,  who  ought  to  know  better. 

It  is  all  right  about  the  mills  of  the  gods  grinding  exceedingly  small,  but 
their  slowness  is  awfully  exasparating  to  the  modern  workaday  American 
woman.  It  has  seemed  so  difficult  to  arouse  an  interest  in  the  subject  ;  I  am 
fully  sure  that  lots  of  people  thought  we  were  just  meddling  faddists,  and 
would  be  much  better  employed  at  home,  darning  the  heels  into  our  husbands' 
socks,  than  interfering  with  that  habit,  which  is  all  over  the  world  considered 
the  exclusive  prerogative  and  accomplishment  of  every  free  born  American 
citizen.  I  refer  to  the  habit  of  spitting  on  every  occasion,  not  to  mention  the 
floor.  I  have  heard  it  averred  by  foreigners,  that  an  American  gentlemen 
didn't  feel  at  home  in  a  house  until  he  had  spat  on  the  floor.  1  have  heard 
others  insist  that  it  was  the  American  manner  of  showing  emotion.  I  am  glad 
to  say  I  never  heard  any  one  suggest  the  true  reason,  that  it  was  a  lazy,  dirty 
habit,  of  which  all  men,  considerate  for  the  comfort  of  others,  should  break 
themselves  immediately. 

It  was  not  until  the  apalling  fact  became  known,  that  Consumption,  that 
deadliest  of  all  diseases,  was  contagious,  that  people  began  to  look  around 
them  for  causes.  Scientists,  by  careful  analytical  examination,  proved  to  the 
world  that  the  germs  of  all  pulmonary  diseases,  as  well  as  diphtheria,  cholera, 
and  various  other  contagious  diseases,  could  be  expelled  from  the  system  by 
expectoration,  and  that  the  most  loving,  tender  and  careful  mother,  was  liable 
to  wipe  up  some  such  germs  on  the  hem  of  her  gown,  and  carry  them  home 
to  her  healthy  little  nursery  brood.  I  am  quite  sure  that  the  majority  of  men 
are  a  little  prejudiced  against  the  wife  of  their  bosom  wearing  bloomers,  but 
we  women  are  getting  so  smart  and  knowing  about  these  things,  that  if  men 
don't  stop  this  dirty  habit,  they  will  wake  one  morning  to  find  every  mother's 
daughter  of  us,  fat  and  thin,  tall  and  short,  willowy  and  squatty,  out  doing 
our  morning  marketing  in  nice,  roomy  bloomers.  They  won't  be  pretty  on 
all  of  us,  but  they'll  be  healthy — and  it  rests  with  the  old  man,  whether  the 
walking  costume  of  the  new  woman,  is  to  be  bloomers  or  skirts. 

Joking  apart,  the  women  and  the  children  appeal  to  the  kindly  considera- 
tion of  the  men  to  remove  this  nuisauce  and  discomfort  from  them,  and  to 
shield  them  from  the  awful  monster  of  death  and  disease,  that  lurks  in  the  path 
of  every  woman,  as  she  goes  on  her  rounds  to  provide  for  the  needs  and 
comforts  of  home. 

Unremittingly,  untiringly  we  have  worked  on  this  question,  and  have  met 
with  the  kindest  co-operation  from  President  Wilson  and  his  colleagues  of  the 
Health  Board,  and  now,  to-day,  we  have  the  pleasure  of  announcing  that  the 
Surface  Roads  have  issued  15,000  placards,  prohibiting  spitting  in  street  cars 
or  public  buildings  ;  that  the  New  York  Central  Railroads,  the  Third  Avenue,' 
and  the  125th  Street  Cross-Town  cars  have  them  posted  in  their  cars,  and  that 
within  a  very  short  time  they  will  be  in  all  the  lines  and  public  buildings 
throughout  the  city.    It  will  then  become  the  duty  of  the  conductor  to  call 


64 


the  attention  of  any  person  violating  the  rule,  to  the  placard,  and  to  put  the 
offender  off  the  car  if  he  refuses  to  comply  with  the  rule. 

Our  Association  found  that  some  of  the  car  lines  did  not  properly  sweep  or 
air  their  cars  from  day  to  day,  and  here  again  we  had  but  to  verify  the  com- 
plaint and  take  it  to  our  faithful  friend,  President  Wilson.  An  order 
was  very  shortly  issued  from  the  Health  Department,  ordering  all  cars 
to  be  aired  and  swept,  and  mats  or  gratings  shaken  or  cleaned  once  in  every 
twenty- four  hours. 

We  keep  up  a  constant  vigilance  in  regard  to  the  carrying  of  soiled  linen  in 
cars,  and  instantly  report  any  violation. 

This  last  winter  we  were  very  active  in  the  heating  of  the  Broadway  cars, 
but  it  is  amusing  to  note,  that  no  sooner  were  the  stoves  in  the  cars,  than 
letters  began  to  pour  in  on  us  expostulating  at  the  dreadful  overheating.  It's 
strange,  but  a  fact,  that  one  man's  meat  is  another  man's  poison  all  the  world 
over. 

In  concluding,  I  would  like  to  state  that  this  Committee,  under  its  able 
Chairman,  Dr.  Jennie  de  la  M.  Lozier,  is  determined  to  see  this  matter  of 
expectoration  through,  and  though  every  member  of  it  grows  grey  in  the 
service,  there  will  be  no  let  up,  no  relaxing  of  vigilance,  until  the  task  we  have 
set  ourselves  to  do  is  accomplished. 

GENIE  H.  ROSENFELD. 


The  Mayor  remarked  that  he  was  glad  spitting  has  been 
declared  illegal,  as  he  would  be  very  sorry  to  see  all  the  ladies 
of  his  acquaintance  going  round  in  bloomers,  and  then  called 
for  the  paper  on  Police  Matrons  and  Municipal  Lodging 
Houses,  which  was  written  by  Mrs.  Genie  H.  Rosenfeld,  read 
by  Mrs.  Jennie  de  la  M.  Lozier. 


POLICE  MATRONS  AND  MUNICIPAL  LODGING  H0USE5. 

The  subject  of  police  matrons  has  been  very  near  and  dear  to  the  heart  of 
this  Association. 

As  far  back  as  1887,  the  necessity  for  appointing  a  matron  to  take  charge  of 
the  woman  prisoners,  was  felt  by  our  members,  and  a  committee  waited  on 
the  Police  Commissioners  asking  that  one  Station  House  should  be  appropri- 
ated for  woman  prisoners,  and  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  matron.  The 
Commissioners  however,  had  neither  the  authority  nor  the  funds  to  effect 
this  much  needed  reform,  and  we  were  obliged  to  bide  our  time. 

In  March,  1890,  Mrs.  J.  S.  Lowell  addressed  our  Association,  asking  us  to 
co-operate  with  other  societies,  to  urge  the  Commissioners  to  give  us  the 
desired  reform.  This  we  gladly  agreed  to  do.  The  policy  of  this  Association 
has  always  been  harmonious  co-operation,  rather  than  sensational  individual- 


(KS 


ism.  Our  member  Mrs.  S.  C.  Ostrom,  was  made  chairman  of  the  Committee 
on  Police  Matrons,  and  entered  into  her  work. 

After  paying  a  night  visit  to  the  Station  Houses,  and  seeing  the  unhappy 
condition  of  the  poor  women  under  arrest,  Mrs.  Ostrom  went  heart  and  soul 
into  the  work  in  hand.  She  found  that  what  attention  the  women  prisoners 
received,  was  solely  from  men.  Little  attempt  was  made  to  discriminate 
between  sickness  and  drunkenness,  all  the  women  were  herded  together, 
swearing,  screaming,  and  making  night  hideous.  The  keeper  would  occa- 
sionally throw  a  rough  order  to  be  quiet  at  them,  which  would  elicit  further 
vollies  of  abuse.  If,  as  often  happened,  some  unfortunate  creature  was  ill, 
or  in  need  of  a  woman's  assistance,  her  complaints  were  screamed  down  by 
some  half  drunken  virago,  and  she  was  forced  to  suffer  till  morning,  and 
help,  came. 

Eventually,  through  the  united  efforts  of  the  various  societies  which  inter- 
ested themselves  in  this  matter,  (efforts,  which  included  an  appeal  to  the 
Legislature  at  Albany),  a  Police  Matron  Bill  was  passed.  This  bill,  however, 
helped  the  cause  but  little.  After  it  had  passed  both  houses,  the  Governor 
refused  to  sign  it,  but  finally,  after  much  pressure,  made  it  permissive,  and 
operative  for  one  year. 

During  this  year  nothing  was  done.  No  appropriation  had  been  made  for 
the  payment  of  the  matrons,  and  matters  were  at  a  stand  still. 

In  November,  1890,  Mrs.  Ostrom  went  with  Mrs.  Bell  and  Mrs.  Trautmann 
of  our  society,  in  company  with  Mrs.  Lowell  and  Miss  Dodge  before  the 
Board  of  Apportionment  and  Estimate,  to  appeal  for  the  necessary  funds, 
and  in  April  '91  the  Bill  was  made  mandatory,  the  appropriation  arranged, 
and  the  matrons  appointed  in  the  fall  of  '91. 

From  the  first  the  plan  worked  well,  and  though  the  newness  of  the  work 
made  it  a  little  difficult  to  know  just  the  right  class  of  woman  to  select  to  fill 
the  post,  the  work  has  been  thoroughly  and  systematically  undertaken,  and 
the  Matrons  of  to-day  are  a  body  of  intelligent  women,  whose  very  presence 
has  a  salutory  moral  effect  on  the  prisoners. 

It  was  with  great  satisfaction  that  the  Association  learned  of  the  new  and 
excellent  rule  in  regard  to  Police  Matrons,  whereby  candidates  after  passing 
their  Probationers'  examination,  must  attend  a  course  of  "First  aid  to  the 
Injured"  lectures,  and  obtain  a  certificate  of  proficiency  in  this  branch, 
before  they  are  fully  qualified  for  office.  The  Matrons  already  appointed  are 
also  attending  the  lectures,  which,  in  addition  to  the  binding  of  wounds,  dwell 
particularly  on  the  discrimination  between  sickness  and  drunkenness. 

In  regard  to  the  subject  of  Municipal  Lodging  Houses,  the  Association  was 
at  first  much  drawn  to  the  idea  of  erecting  as  many  of  them  as  funds  would 
allow.  It  seemed  terrible  to  tuck  up  in  your  warm  bed  of  a  winters  night, 
and  think  of  the  poor  homeless  shivering  creatures  wandering  round  the 
streets ;  the  Police  Stations  were  eminently  unfitted  for  Tramps  Hotels,  and 
Municipal  Lodging  Houses  seemed  the  only  solution. 

We  must,  however,  confess  to  a  complete  change  of  base ;  a  change  due  to 
the  clear  headed  teachings  of  Mrs.  Lowell,  accompanied  by  reports  of  19  days' 
work  on  the  Barge  at  the  foot  of  26th  St.  3,417  men  were  sheltered  during 
those  days,  2,500  of  them  were  between  the  ages  of  20  and  40.  600  of  them 
had  been  in  the  City  under  two  days,  and  500  of  them  from  3  to  60  days. 
One  of  the  men  had  been  playing  cards  late  and  was  afraid  to  go  home, 
another  was  a  coachman  who  was  going  to  a  situation  next  day,  and  com- 
plained that  he  had  a  fifty  dollar  watch  stolen  from  him  while  on  the  Barge, 


66 

several  were  sailors  going  to  ship  next  day,  another  was  a  Dane,  who  stated 
that  his  mother  had  a  farm  at  home  and  would  be  glad  to  have  him  back,  but 
he  liked  this  country  best,  and  so  on  ad  infinitum. 

I  cite  these  cases  to  show  that  the  class  of  persons  one  would  wish  to  reach, 
are  not  the  persons  benefitted  by  the  City's  Charity,  and  that  the  kindhearted 
plan  of  making  a  shelter  of  this  kind,  only  benefits  men  from  the  country 
districts,  who  sponge  on  the  city  while  they  are  looking  for  work,  and  the 
weak-minded,  shiftless,  idlers,  who  will  take  whatever  shelter  comes  easiest. 
The  doctor's  reports  on  these  men  stated  that  nine-tenths  of  them  were  well 
nourished,  healthy,  able  bodied  men,  who  should  have  been  ashamed  to  ask 
charity.    The  really  deserving  poor  were  not  reached. 

While  no  God  fearing  man  or  woman,  will  deny  that  shelter  must  be  pro- 
vided for  the  homeless,  it  seems  to  this  Association,  that  a  system  should  be 
evolved  whereby  these  unfortunates  could  be  helped  and  disposed  of.  We 
are  aware  of  the  system  of  asking  references  of  the  men  seeking  lodging  at 
the  Barge,  and  that  in  several  instances  an  investigation  of  the  references,  has 
disclosed  the  fact,  that  old  employers  would  be  glad  to  take  the  individual 
back  into  service.  If  some  plan  could  be  effected  by  which  a  hold  could  be 
kept  on  the  men  until  their  cases  were  investigated,  much  good  might  be 
done,  and  much  money  saved  the  City.  We  are  all  anxious  to  do  all  in  our 
power  to  help  the  unfortunate,  but  we  all  work  too  hard  for  the  money  we 
possess,  for  it  to  be  fair  to  tax  us  to  support  the  idle  and  unworthy. 

It  seems  to  the  Association,  that  the  present  system  of  investigation  should 
be  continued,  that  a  hold  should  be  kept  on  the  men  applying  for  lodging, 
and  that  they  should  be  divided  into  three  classes :  Those  who  belong  oul  of 
the  city,  and  have  been  here  less  than  60  days,  should  be  sent  back  to  the 
place  where  they  belong,  vagrants  pure  and  simple  should  be  sent  to  the 
Workhouse,  and  the  deserving  and  unfortunate  poor,  should  be  helped 
through  the  various  charitable  organizations,  to  obtain  work,  and  get  on 
their  feet  again. 

Such  a  system  as  this,  would  very  soon  rid  the  City  of  the  shiftless  class, 
who  come  casually  in  from  outside  districts  to  find  out  whether  laziness  pays 
better  here  than  at  home.  It  seems  something  of  a  shame  that  the  honest 
citizen  is  taxed  to  lodge  3,500  able  bodied  men  in  19  days,  while  the  agricul- 
tural districts  are  crying  out  for  more  hands  to  sow  the  seed  and  gather 
the  harvest. 

The  truest  charity  is  not  that  which  gives,  but  that  which  helps  a  man  to 
earn  for  himself  sufficient  for  his  needs. 

The  Association  is  waiting  anxiously  for  the  results  of  further  experiments 
along  these  lines,  and  pledges  itself  in  the  immortal  words  of  Abraham 
Lincoln,  to  work  for  the  movement, 

"  With  firmness  in  the  right,  as  God  gives  us  to  see  the  right." 

GEXIE  H.  ROSENFKLI). 


Miss  Mary  Phillips  then  proceeded  to  read  a  paper  on  Evils 
of  the  Bakeshops,  written  by  J.  Thimme,  Editor  of  the  Inter- 
national Bakers  and  Confectioners  Journal,  and  revised  by  her: 


67 


SANITARY  BAKESHOPS. 

Where  are  they  ?  Echo  answers  "iDhere? "  Research,  careful  investigation, 
show  that  they  do  not  exist  in  New  York  City,  (and  we  believe  that  New  York 
City  is  not  the  exception  of  the  United  States.) 

"  Gfasanitary  Bakeshops  "  would  be  the  better  title  to  this  paper,  since,  in 
looking  into  conditions,  we  find  most  unclean  atmospheres  and  methods 
obtaining,  where  that,  which  is  supposed  to  be  the  staff  of  life,  is  prepared. 

While  we  deal  with  the  bakeshop  as  it  is,  in  this  paper,  let  us  still  hold  to 
our  first  title,  "  Sanitary  Bakeshops,"  and  ask  how  we  can  secure  them  ?  How 
we  can  bring  about  this  reform  to  add  to  the  record  of  the  Ladies'  Health 
Protective  Association. 

How  have  we  brought  about  other  measures  for  health,  which  make  our 
twelve  years'  record  one. to  encourage  us  on  to  greater  fields  ? 

Important  among  them  is  that  which  seeks  to  give  clean  food  to  supply  the 
daily  building  of  the  Body,  the  Temple  of  the  Soul. 

We  have  accomplished  much  by  agitation,  discussion,  presentation  of  facts, 
until  our  officials,  recognizing  the  truth  and  the  needs,  have  nobly  seconded 
our  motions  and  carried  them  into  execution. 

With  abundant  faith  that  the  same  wise  ear  will  bend  to  the  new  cry  for 
help,  let  us  see  through  the  eyes  of  one  who  has  the  best  interests  of  humanity 
at  heart,  and  who  has  intelligently  looked  behind  the  scenes,  below  into  the 
foul  basements,  where  the  material  is  collected  and  compounded  into  shapes 
and  styles  to  sell  as  food. 

We  propose  to  give  to  you  the  general  facts.  Dirt,  and  a  perfect  indifference 
to  all  hygienic  laws,  enter  into  nearly  every  composition  which  comes  from  the 
bakeshop,  no  matter  how  frosted  the  exterior  or  "plum-ed"  the  interior. 

Dirt  and  danger  are  synonymous  words  iu  the  making  of  bread  ;  the  reason 
is  apparent.  Dirt,  dust,  the  impurities  which  collect  in  all  places  of  human 
congregation,  are  disease  producers,  and  disease  is  danger. 

In  at  least  seventy  per  cent,  of  our  bakeshops  we  find  all  the  materials  kept, 
and  all  the  work  done,  underground,  in  crowded,  stifling  atmospheres,  where  a 
ray  of  God's  sunlight  never  comes.  This  alone  would  bring  down  every  loaf 
of  bread  from  its  pedestal  of  a  life  or  health-giving  fuel. 

The  ceilings  of  these  subterranean  rooms  are  seldom  over  seven  feet  in 
height,  are  unprotected  from  the  sifting  dirt,  cobwebs  and  spiders,  which  fall 
frequently  from  the  shaking  seams  of  the  floors  above  into  the  trays,  and 
upon  the  loaves,  when,  taken  warm  from  the  oven,  they  are  in  a  most  sensi- 
tive and  absorbent  condition.  The  places  are  encumbered  with  boxes, 
barrels,  musty  sacks,  illy-kept  utensils  and  rubbish  of  all  kinds,  reeking  often 
with  tobacco  refuse  and  tobacco  chewers'  expectorations. 

The  close  proximity  to  the  ovens  of  the  foul  mattresses  upon  which  the  men 
and  boys  sleep  or  lie,  while  watching  the  night  processes,  is  suggestive  of 
essences  other  than  those  recommended  by  our  Home  Cook  Books.  Sinks, 
sewers,  et  cetera,  are  in  close  proximity  to  the  doughs  and  bread. 

Rats  are  in  the  flour,  mice  live  in  the  mattresses,  vermin,  large  and  small, 
crawl  freely  over  the  whole  territory,  dropping  into  the  messes  in  course  of 
preparation,  irrespective  of  all  fitness  or  adaptability. 

The  men  and  boys  who  are  forced  to  work  in  this  stifling,  choky  atmosphere, 
twelve  and  fourteen  hours,  often  twenty  or  twenty-four  hours  at  a  stretch, 
work  mostly  in  a  semi-nude  condition,  with  the  perspiration  pouring  from 
their  bodies,  contaminating  to  the  last  degree  an  atmosphere  already  as  foul  as 


6s 


foul  can  be ;  chewing,  smoking — falling  tobacco  ashes  are  the  rule,  not  the 
exception. 

Slight  accidents  of  falling  dough  are  discounted;  the  dough  has  lost  nothing* 
and  the  loaf  must  fill  its  required  size  and  weight.  Flour  is  used  regardless 
of  its  having  been  the  nest  of  rats,  and  the  Potter's  Field  for  dead  rats  and 
mice. 

Pulmonary  diseases,  as  well  as  eruptive  skin  contamination,  are  facts  in  every 
bakeshop,  from  the  very  environments  in  which  these  men  live  and  work. 
The  whole  subject  of  bakeshops  is  one  to  come  under  the  same  surveillance 
as  sweat  shops  and  tenement  house  ;  they  are  a  disgrace  to  the  Bosses,  to 
the  Community,  and  an  ever -increasing  danger  to  the  men,  women  and 
children  who  live  upon  their  products. 

They  affect  rich  and  poor  alike,  for  more  or  less  of  bakeshop  commodities 
find  their  way  to  many  tables.  Competent  physicians  in  London,  J.  F. 
Waldo  and  Daniel  Walsh,  have  proven  beyond  the  shadow  of  a  doubt,  that 
baking  does  not  sterilize  bread.  So  far,  thirteen  different  kinds  of  bacteria 
(or  their  spores)  have  been  found  in  a  living  condition  in  freshly  baked 
loaves  of  bread. 

The  limits  of  this  paper  will  preclude  the  possibility  of  giving  the  results 
of  experiments  in  this  direction,  made  in  Europe. 

Much  has  been  done  during  the  last  ten  years  in  effecting  reforms  through 
organized  efforts.  Here  is  one  more  greatly  needed  work  to  be  done.  Albany 
has  already  legislated  upon  the  question,  and  last  year  passed  a  sanitary  bake- 
shop bill.  Another  phase  of  the  bakeshop  reform,  must  come  by  demanding 
less  adulteration  in  the  foods ;  the  economy  question  must  also  be  looked 
into,  that  the  profits  may  be  better  regulated  and  shared  between  the  pro- 
ducer and  purchaser.  These  subjects  are  too  extended  to  dwell  upon  at  this 
time  ;  we  throw  out  the  hints,  merely. 

What  is  first  needed  is  light,  light,  to  give  life  to  the  bread  and  help  purity. 

The  facts  must  be  gathered  up,  and  a  statistical  table  prepared  to  set 
before  the  public  in  a  matter-of-fact  way. 

When  this  is  done,  the  co-operation  of  real  reformers,  honest  officials  and 
genuine  legislators,  aye,  of  the  whole  public,  must  be  enlisted.  To  institute 
a  great  reform,  the  whole  mass  must  rise  to  the  emergency. 

MARY  PHILLIPS. 

His  Honor,  in  a  witty  speech,  commiserated  his  sex  for 
being  at  the  mercy  of  these  bread  makers,  but  congratulated 
himself  and  the  city  generally  in  having  at  the  head  of  the 
Health  Board  such  a  man  as  the  Hon.  Charles  G.  Wilsonf 
whom  he  was  proud  to  introduce  to  the  assembled  audience. 

Mr.  Wilson  said  : 


"Seven  years  previous  to  the  Civil  War,  the  public  bad  their  attention 
called  to  the  very  high  death  rate  in  this  city.  It  was  attributed  to  the  un- 
sanitary condition  of  the  tenement  houses,  and  an  attempt  was  made  to 


69 


improve  matters,  but  owing  to  the  opposition  of  the  city  government  nothing 
wa9  done.  In  1S62  another  attempt  was  made  to  establish  a  Board  of  Health, 
but  it  was  not  till  1866  that  the  matter  was  accomplished,  and  then  the  pas- 
sage of  the  act  confirming  it.  was  hastend  by  the  threatened  invasion  of 
Asiatic  Cholera.  The  management  of  affairs  during  the  epidemic,  proved  the 
wisdom  of  establishing  such  a  Board. 

At  that  time  slaughter  houses  were  in  a  horrible  condition.  Butchers 
slaughtered  calves  and  sheep  in  the  rear  of  their  dwellings.  Hogs  were 
allowed  to  forage  for  garbage  and  wallowed  in  the  gutters.  Sixty  fat  and 
bone  boiling  establishments  were  in  operation  in  the  heart  of  the  city. 

Gas  houses  filled  the  air  with  their  foul  odors  unchecked  ;  manure  was 
gathered  and  allowed  to  rot  in  any  vacant  space ;  cess-pools  and  vaults  were 
used  instead  of  closets ;  what  plumbing  there  was,  was  of  the  most  old 
fashioned  and  unsanitary  kind. 

The  work  of  the  Board  of  Health  was  of  the  most  arduous  character; 
citizens  resisted  all  attempts  at  better  sanitary  conditions,  and  when  arrests 
were  made  under  the  new  laws,  appealed  against  adverse  decisions,  and  it  was 
not  until  several  cases  had  been  carried  to  the  Court  of  Appeals,  and  decided 
in  favor  of  the  Health  Board,  that  its  power  was  recognized  and  respected. 

The  Board  was  then  organized  for  the  General  Sanitary  Inspection  of  the 
City.  One  department  was  organized  for  the  control  of  contagious  diseases, 
and  another  for  the  inspection  of  foods. 

The  condition  of  the  gas  houses,  slaughter  houses,  and  the  storing  of 
manure,  were  the  greatest  points  of  trouble  for  the  Board,  and  in  all  of  these 
matters  it  is  a  very  pleasant  duty  to  acknowledge  the  help  of  the  Ladies 
Health  Protective  Association  in  co-operating  with  the  Health  Board. 
Indeed  the  work  of  the  Association  cannot  be  too  highly  commended,  and  it 
gives  me  great  pleasure  to  add  my  word  of  praise  for  the  earnest,  unselfish 
work,  it  has  done  for  the  benefit  of  the  city. 

The  department  of  contagious  diseases,  takes  care  to  isolate  all  patients 
suffering  from  any  contagious  disease,  and  where  possible,  to  remove  the 
patient  to  a  hospital,  and  in  all  cases  to  thoroughly  disinfect  rooms,  bedding, 
clothing,  etc. 

The  food  department  inspects  milk,  fruit,  fish,  meat,  vegetables. 

Xext  in  importance  to  the  supply  of  pure  water,  comes  pure  milk.  There 
are  now  7  milk  inspectors  instead  of  3  as  formerly,  and  Mayor  Strong 
approves  of  the  appointment  of  5  additional  inspectors.  Arrests  for  watered 
milk  were  made.  Numbers  of  persons  were  sent  to  prison  from  12  to  30 
days,  and  fines  to  the  amount  of  $12,000  were  collected. 

Under  the  present  arrangement,  no  person  is  allowed  to  store  or  sell  milk 
without  permit  from  the  Board,  and  must  furnish  full  particulars  as  to 
where  the  milk  is  procured,  and  show  a  satisfactory  place  for  storing  the 
same,  before  the  permit  is  granted. 

The  analytical  department,  besides  analysing  the  water  supply  every  week, 
keeps  in  touch  with  all  the  new  discoveries.  Anti-toxine  was  so  favorably 
reported  to  the  Board,  that  Dr.  Biggs  was  sent  abroad  to  investigate  it.  On 
his  return,  an  appropriation  was  made  to  supply  Anti-toxine,  with  the  result 
of  a  decrease  of  43  per  cent,  in  the  death  rate  since  its  adoption. 

The  Board  of  Health  is  very  rigidly  organized  and  disciplined,  and  its 
rules  are  being  made  more  and  more  severe  as  necessity  warrants.  The 
Health  Department  has  no  politics,  but  is  the  friend  of  the  people  without 
distinction. 


70 


Following  Mr.  Wilson,  the  Mayor  introduced  the  Hon. 
Theodore  Roosevelt,  President  of  the  Police  Board.  Mr. 
Roosevelt,  who  spoke  without  notes,  said  : 

• 

I  doubt  if  any  0De  who  is  not  in  a  public  office  can  appreciate  the  good 
done  by  outside  organizations.  They  keep  the  officials  up  to  their  work, 
and  they  attract  their  attention  to  things  that  ought  to  be  attended  to. 

In  the  matter  of  municipal  lodging  houses,  I  found  in  going  from  precinct 
to  precinct  that  they  were  in  an  awful  condition.  I  invited  Jacob  Riis  to 
look  them  over  with  an  idea  to  improving  them,  and  all  he  said  was  "  Shut 
them  up  !  they  do  more  harm  than  good." 

The  idea  of  closing  the  municipal  lodging  houses,  seemed  to  cause  intense 
anguish  of  mind  to  people  who  said  I  was  down  on  the  poor  working  man. 
Only  yesterday  I  received  a  letter  from  an  excellent  organization,  begging  for 
the  opening  of  the  lodging  houses ;  but  they  will  not  be  opened. 

In  this  line  of  work  there  is  an  immense  field  for  the  intelligent  philanthro- 
pists. I  use  this  word  intelligent  advisedly,  for  it  is  an  absolute  trueism, 
that  the  criminal  does  no  more  harm  than  the  humanitarian  fool. 

While  it  is  true  that  we  must  not  deprive  the  honest,  but  poor  working 
man  of  shelter,  it  is  equally  true  we  must  not  mulct  the  honest  citizen  of  his 
hard  earned  money,  for  taxes  to  supply  shelter  for  the  idle  shiftless  tramp. 

There  is  a  plan  on  foot  for  the  reopening  of  tramps'  lodging  houses  next 
year.  I  earnestly  hope  that  it  may  not  be  carried  out.  These  lodging  houses 
are  failures  from  two  distinct  standpoints. 

Firstly,  they  encourage  the  shiftless  and  degraded  who  do  not  want  to 
work  ;  and  secondly,  their  condition  is  so  bad,  that  they  degrade  the  honest 
man  who  is  forced  to  take  advantage  of  them. 

The  opening  of  Commissioner  Faure's  barge,  was  probably  the  severest  stroke 
that  has  ever  been  struck  at  vagabondage  in  this  city.  The  housing  of  men 
in  police  stations  was  stopped,  and  all  men  in  need  of  a  night's  lodging,  were 
sent  to  the  barge,  where  they  were  met  with  three  terrible  discomforts. 
They  must  first  bathe,  then  sleep  in  clean  flannel  pajamas,  and  last  do  the 
work  of  the  barge  in  the  morning.  It  was  astonishing  how  much  fewer 
homeless  poor  were  found,  when  these  conditions  were  known.  The  bath  and 
the  work  frightened  them  off. 

I  would  suggest  that  you  women  of  this  Association,  should  devote  your 
energies  to  preventing  the  return  to  the  old  system,  and  if  the  barge  is  not  in 
working  order  next  Fall,  endeavor  to  have  something  to  correspond  with  it. 

I  see  by  the  very  able  paper  just  read  by  Mrs.  Lozier,  that  your  Association 
has  the  right  grasp  of  this  most  difficult  subject.  You  understand  of  your- 
selves that  to  give  indiscriminate  charity  is  to  pauperize  people. 

The  Board  of  Charities  has  been  doing  a  great  work  in  this  direction.  Uphold 
it  and  see  that  it  be  continued  next  Fall.  Have  the  vagrant  made  to  feel 
that  he  has  not  only  got  to  wash  and  work,  but  that  if  he  won't  earn  his  living 
he  must  goto  the  work-house,  and  not  demand  of  the  city,  that  aid  which  was 
intended  for  the  unfortunate  poor. 

Invaluable  help  can  be  given  to  officials,  by  organizations,  if  they  will  only 
study  the  subject  in  hand  intelligently,  and  work  with  the  officials  instead  of 
against  them. 


It 


The  most  telling  proof  of  the  truth  of  this,  lies  in  the  work  of  this 
Association.  You  have  heard  to-night  what  these  women  have  accomplished, 
and  you  have  heard  from  their  own  lips  that  it  has  been  done  through  intelli- 
gent co-operation  with  the  officials.  I  myself  feel  glad  that  there  is  such  an 
association  watching  over  the  welfare  of  our  city,  an  association  that 
knows  what  ought  to  be  done,  and  who  ought  to  do  it,  and  stands  ever  ready 
to  call  the  attention  of  the  right  persons  to  anything  that  needs  attention. 

With  the  best  and  purest  intentions,  every  official  is  met,  at  times,  with 
difficulties  and  nuisances  and  abuses  that  he  is  powerless  to  overcome. 

We  have  in  our  city  now,  within  a  few  hundred  yards  of  Police  Head- 
quarters, tenement  houses  that  are  disgraces  to  civilization,  that  represent 
the  days  when  the  poor  of  this  city  died  like  sheep,  and  no  one  cared. 

These  rookeries  are  rear  tenements,  and  are  built  four  feet  off  the  front 
buildings,  and  back  up  within  eight  inches  of  the  one  behind.  These  houses 
have  long  been  a  menace  to  the  Board  of  Health,  a  cause  of  infinite  trouble  to 
the  police,  and  an  eyesore  and  disgrace  to  the  city;  but  we  were  all  powerless 
to  clear  them  out. 

Now,  however,  the  Board  of  Health  has  the  power  to  condemn  such  build- 
ings, and  will  use  its  power  with  discretion  and  firmness. 

Five  houses  have  been  chosen  to  begin  operations  on  ;  they  lie  in  the  rear 
of  Mott  Street,  the  windows  open  onto  the  wall  of  a  warehouse  but  8  inches 
away.  The  rents  of  the  lower  stories  are  naturally  much  cheaper  than  the 
upper,  because  way  upstairs  they  get  a  little  glimmer  of  light  sometimes.  A 
number  of  photographs  were  taken  of  these  dreadful  dens,  but  they  had  to 
be  discarded,  they  were  too  awful  to  exhibit.  We  expect  a  great  deal  of 
fighting  before  we  are  rid  of  these  terrible  structures,  but  we  have  right  on 
our  side,  and  in  the  end  we'll  win. 

In  concluding  my  remarks,  let  me  thank  you  members  of  the  Ladies  Health 
Protective  Association  of  New  York,  for  the  work  you  have  done,  and  for 
your  reasonableness  in  doing  it,  and  let  me  entreat  you  to  continue  in  it.  You 
have  called  upon  me  to  aid  you  in  keeping  the  pavements  cleaned.  The  laws 
regulating  this  matter  are  on  our  books,  and  I  will  help  you  to  see  that  they 
are  enforced,  and  will  try  to  do  my  duty. 


At  the  conclusion  of  these  remarks,  the  Mayor  rose  and 
said : 

"  I  have  listened  with  pleasure  to  all  that  Commissioner 
Roosevelt  has  said ;  the  co-operation  of  the  officials  with 
such  a  society  as  the  Ladies  Health  Protective  Association 
is  a  pleasure  to  them,  on  account  of  that  very  reasonable- 
ness of  which  the  Commissioner  has  just  spoken,  and 
we  shall  one  and  all  be  glad  to  assist  this  society  and 
further  its  wishes,  whenever  it  lies  in  our  power." 


His  Honor  then  introduced  Captain  Gibson,  Deputy  Com- 
missioner of  Street  Cleaning. 

Captain  Gibson  said  : 


Mrs.  Trautmann,  Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  : 

In  Colonel  Waring's  absence,  it  devolves  upon  me  as  the  Deputy  Commis- 
sioner to  represent  him  here  this  evening,  and  while  I  am  but  a  poor  substi- 
tute for  the  genuine  article,  it  affords  me  an  opportuning  of  saying  a  few 
words  in  just  praise  of  his  efforts  as  Commissioner  of  the  Department  of 
Street  Cleaning,  which  modesty,  if  nothing  else,  would  forbid  his  saying  for 
himself.  His  work,  however,  speaks  more  eloquently  for  itself  than  any 
poor  words  of  mine,  or  the  most  facile  pen  could  possibly  describe  it,  for  it 
is  constantly  before  the  public  gaze  as  a  perpetual  reminder  of  the  thorough- 
ness of  his  system,  and  as  a  silent  witness  to  the  completeness  of  the  gigantic 
task  he  is  daily  accomplishing  in  the  interest  of  the  health,  happiness,  cleanli 
ness  and  comfort  of  the  citizens  of  this  metropolis.  He  has  originated  a  most 
desirable  condition  in  the  matter  of  Street  Cleaning,  and  one  never  experienced 
or  enjoyed  by  the  people  of  this  city  before. 

The  results  he  has  shown,  must  certainly  be  considered  a  receipt  in  full  for 
the  money  expended  in  bringing  them  about,  and  a  justification  for  the 
amount  it  will  cost  to  maintain  them  in  the  future. 

The  Department  is  now  cleaning  over  420  miles  of  paved  streets  daily, 
and  man}r  of  these  streets  are  swept  several  times  a  day,  against  393  miles 
confided  to  the  care  of  his  predecessor. 

The  cost  for  this  service  for  1895  was  $3,008,000,  and  for  the  previous 
year,  $2,547,000,  but  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  Colonel  Waring  is,  under 
the  present  law,  required  to  pay  a  higher  rate  of  wages  than  were  paid  prior 
to  his  incumbency,  except  for  a  portion  of  the  year  1894,  and,  furthermore, 
almost  the  entire  plant  needed  renewal,  which  necessitated  a  very  large  out- 
lay. The  great  improvement  in  the  equipment,  and  in  the  plant  generally, 
the  many  advantageous  changes,  and  the  adoption  of  new  methods,  all  of 
which  have  taken  shape  under  Colonel  Waring's  direction,  have  paid  many 
times  over  for  the  expense  incurred  by  them. 

The  Sweepers  are  now  supplied  by  the  Department  with  push-brooms, 
which  formerly  they  furnished  themselves,  which  is  another  added  expense. 
This  change  was  made  for  the  reason  that  the  more  power  a  Sweeper  put 
into  his  broom,  and  the  better  he  did  his  work,  the  more  he  damaged  his 
own  pecuniary  status,  and  it  was  to  overcome  this  unnatural  condition  that 
the  change  was  ordered. 

The  Bag  Carrier  service,  which  as  yet  is  quite  limited,  has  thus  far  been 
most  satisfactory,  and  will  be  extended  in  the  very  near  future.  This  is 
designed  to  do  away  with  sweeping  street  dirt  into  piles,  that  are  almost 
immediately  scattered  by  traffic  and  the  winds,  and  instead,  the  sweepings  are 
put  at  once  into  bags,  which,  when  filled,  are  tied  up  and  left  on  the  curb, 
soon  to  be  hauled  off  by  the  department  carts.  The  recent  introduction  of 
the  ash  can  and  bag,  on  the  west  side  of  the  city  is,  as  yet,  in  its  experimental 
stage, but  the  reports  thus  far  are  all  favorable,  and  that  service  will  likewise  be 
extended  in  all  probability.    These  are  for  the  collection  of  house  ashes  into 


bag8,  instead  of  emptying  an  open  ash  can  into  a  cart,  often  to  the  great 
discomfort  and  annoyance  of  the  passerby,  especially  on  a  windy  day. 

The  removal  of  trucks  from  the  streets  has  been  one  of  the  greatest  boons 
to  the  entire  inhabitants  of  the  city,  and  also  the  most  unpopular  of  all  of 
Colonel  Waring's  reforms.  It  met  with  the  most  strenuous  and  persistent 
opposition,  and  the  Truckmen's  Association  is  to  day  fighting  it  tooth  and 
nail,  but  I  think  we  may  safely  count  it  a  very  disreputable  condition  of  the 
past. 

Those  of  the  tenement  house  districts  have  probably  benefited  most  by 
Colonel  Waring's  perfect  work  and  improved  methods,  and  they  thoroughly 
appreciate  the  fact  that  he  has  greatly  improved  their  condition  and  general 
surroundings.  They  in  turn  have  extended  to  him  a  helping  hand  through 
the  instrumentality  of  their  children,  who  have,  in  many  of  these  districts, 
formed  themselves  into  a  Children's  Auxiliary  Aid  Association,  and  are  ren- 
dering good  service  to  the  Department,  and  their  neighborhoods,  by  reporting 
to  our  employees,  to  the  Health  officers,  and  the  Police  authorities,  all  infrac- 
tions of  the  law  or  city  ordinances  that  come  under  their  notice.  There  are, 
in  these  Associations  in  all,  about  800  children,  and  they  take  much  pride  in 
their  work,  and  in  wearing  the  badge  of  the  Department  of  Street  Cleaning. 

The  uniforming  of  the  force,  for  which  Colonel  Waring  was  so  viciously 
denounced  and  mercilessly  abused,  has  had  a  most  salutary  effect  upon  both 
the  discipline,  and  the  character  and  amount  of  the  work  performed,  for  the 
men  know  that  the  eyes  of  the  public  are  constantly  upon  them,  and  that 
they  must  do  honest  and  faithful  work  to  retain  their  places.  Colonel  Waring 
had  the  courage  to  put  his  force  in  this  most  appropriate  garb,  notwithstand- 
ing the  violent  opposition  to  it,  and  I  doubt  if  any  of  his  successors,  will  have 
the  temerity  to  put  them  back  in  plain  clothing  in  the  future. 

The  pace  he  has  set  will  have  to  be  maintained  by  whoever  succeeds  him, 
for  nothing  short  of  it  will  again  be  tolerated  by  the  people  of  New  York. 

One  of  the  conspicuous  elements  of  success  in  our  Department  has  been 
its  absolute  divorce  from  the  realm  of  politics.  All  who  enter  there  leave 
politics  behind,  or,  if  they  insist  upon  dragging  in  the  political  skeleton,  then 
they  leave  hope  behind,  so  it  is  six  of  one  and  half  a  dozen  of  the  other. 

The  paths  of  the  Department  of  Street  Cleaning  were  strewn  with  thorny 
obstacles,  as  well  as  incumbrances,  for  some  time  after  Colonel  Waring  took 
charge,  but  all  have  disappeared  ;  he  has  wiped  them  out  of  existence,  and 
proposes  to  keep  them  there  as  long  as  he  remains  in  the  business. 

His  Honor  the  Mayor  has  given  Colonel  Waring  the  full  measure  of  his 
support  in  all  his  undertakings,  and  the  Health  and  Police  Departments  are 
co  operating  with  us  in  every  possible  respect. 

In  conclusion,  I  desire  to  offer  my  congratulations  to  the  Ladies  Health 
Protective  Association,  on  the  magnitude  and  comprehensiveness  of  its  work 
in  all  directions,  and  I  wish  also  to  return  the  thanks  of  the  Department  of 
Street  Cleaning  to  the  Association  for  the  loyal  and  effective  manner  in 
ffhich  it  has  aided  Colonel  Waring  in  all  he  has  accomplished,  and  through 
whose  agency  so  many  others  have  taken  an  active  interest  in  the  good  work 
in  hand. 

I  thank  you  for  your  kind  invitation  to  be  present  this  evening,  and  for 
the  opportunity  of  hearing  so  many  excellent  papers  read,  and  also  for  the 
opportunity  of  making  a  few  remarks  myself. 


74 


Captain  Gibson  was  followed  by  Dr.  Moreau  Morris, 
Chairman  of  the  Mayor's  Committee  on  Baths  and  Houses  of 
Public  Comfort.    Dr.  Moreau  Morris  said  : 


I  have  been  familiar  with  the  Ladies  Health  Protective  Association  since  its 
incipieuce.  I  have  watched  its  growth  with  interest  and  approval,  and  can 
only  tender  my  congratulations  and  compliments  to  the  Association,  for  the 
good  work  it  has  accomplished. 

On  the  subject  of  public  baths  and  houses  of  public  comfort,  the  Mayor's 
Committee  has  accumulated  facts  from  all  possible  sources,  and  incidentally  I 
may  add,  literature  enough  on  the  subject  to  form  a  good  sized  library.  A 
model  bath  house,  and  two  houses  of  public  comfort,  will  be  erected  within 
the  year.  We  have  $200,000  appropriated  for  the  work,  and  we  mean  to 
build  on  Tompkins  Square,  a  bath  house  that  shall  serve  as  a  model  for  other 
cities.  It  will  have  hot  and  cold,  rain  and  spray  baths,  and  efforts  will  be 
made  to  keep  it  open  all  the  year  round.  The  houses  of  public  comfort  will 
be  one  in  City  Ilall  Park,  the  other  in  the  Park  at  the  junction  of  Broadway 
and  Sixth  avenue  at  33rd  street. 

It  seems  somewhat  of  a  reflection  upon  us,  that  legislation  had  to  be  secured 
before  public  baths  could  become  a  possibility  to  us.  In  England,  the  munici- 
pality erect  them,  but  in  New  York  we  owe  such  baths  as  we  possess,  to  the 
generosity  of  private  individuals.  75,000  persons  annually  avail  themselves 
of  such  privileges  as  we  have,  but  it  was  necessary  for  the  Board  of  Health 
to  plead  that  baths  and  wash  houses  were  necessary  to  the  public  health, 
before  the  government  took  a  hand. 

It  is  a  disgrace  to  our  city  that  we  have  not  better  facilities  for  bathing 
in  the  tenements  houses.  The  washing  arrangements  are  deplorable,  it  is 
almost  impossible  to  have  cleanliness,  and  yet  we  have  not  one  bath  open  all 
the  year  rouDd  for  those  who  would  bathe  if  they  could. 

Dr.  Morris  then  went  on  to  state  how  the  women  in  England  enjoy  the 
privileges  of  the  wash  houses,  where  for  a  trifling  fee,  they  can  wash,  dry, 
and  iron  their  linen  in  comfortable  well  appointed  wash  houses,  while  they  also 
have  the  opportunity  of  a  pleasant  chat  with  others  using  the  laundries,  thus 
brightening  their  dull  lives  a  little. 

Dr.  Morris  ended  with  a  strong  plea  for  the  erection  of  baths  all  over  cur 
city,  to  be  opened  all  the  year  round,  and  enable  the  poor  to  enjoy  as  com- 
fortable bathing  privileges  as  the  rich. 


This  paper  concluded  the  program,  the  members  and  their 
distinguished  guests  then  repaired  to  an  adjoining  room,  where 
an  informal  reception  was  held,  and  light  refreshments  were 
served.  


75 

Second  Day. 


The  second  day  of  the  Convention* was  devoted  to  visiting 
various  places  in  the  city,  showing  to  the  delegates  the  work- 
that  had  been  accomplished  through  the  efforts  of  the 
Association. 

The  following  extract  from  the  New  York  Journal  of 
Saturday,  May  16,  1896,  will  best  describe  the  proceedings: 

Members  of  the  Ladies  Health  Protective  Association  entertained  their 
guests,  the  delegates  from  similar  organizations  in  other  cities,  yesterday  with 
an  inspection  of  municipal  housekeeping.  Incidentally  they  called  attention 
to  some  of  the  evils  they  have  helped  to  abate. 

The  start  was  made  from  the  Park  Avenue  Hotel  at  9  a.  m.,  and  the 
abattoir  of  the  Eastmans  Company,  at  Fifty-ninth  street  and  Eleventh 
Avenue,  was  first  visited.  It  was  explained  that  the  methods  emDlo}Ted  in 
this  abbatoir  had  since  been  introduced  throughout  the  city.  In  its  infancy 
the  Association  hoped  to  have  it  "moved  outside  the  city  limits,  but  investi. 
gation  had  convinced  them  that  these  model  methods  were  perfectly  consistent 
with  health. 

From  the  abattoir  they  were  driven  through  the  Park  to  the  Sixty-seventh 
street  Police  Station,  where  they  were  shown  improved  methods  of  caring  for 
women  vagrants.  Xext  door  is  the  headquarters  of  the  Fire  Department, 
and  a  request  from  the  president,  Mrs.  Trautmann,  led  to  a  special  review  of 
the  men  and  their  methods. 

The  party  was  driven  to  Mrs.  Trautmann's  house,  where  refreshments  were 
served,  and  from  there  to  the  foot  of  East  Forty-third  street. 

In  this  dock,  or  close  beside  it,  are  anchored  the  refuse  barges  of  the  city. 
It  was  here  that  the  flagrant  outrage  of  hundreds  of  tons  of  manure  being 
exposed,  caused  the  organization  of  the  Association.  In  1884  a  few  women 
decided  to  rid  the  neighborhood  of  the  nuisance,  and  from  that  start  the  Ladies 
Health  Protective  Association  has  grown  into  its  present  dimensions. 

The  manure  has  long  since  disappeared,  but  the  scows  are  still  unloaded 
and  their  contents  separated  beneath  the  pier.  In  that  reeking  spot,  Italians 
not  only  work,  but  live.  They  pile  up  the  filthy  rags,  and  melt  tin  cans,  day  after 
day,  eating  and  sleeping  in  one  portion  cut  off  from  the  main  part.  Their 
bunks  are  a  mass  of  filth.  Thus  far  the  Association  has  been  unable  to  cause 
the  removal  of  such  work  beyond  the  crowded  town. 

From  this  filth  to  the  model  floating  lodging  house  at  the  foot  of  Twenty- 
sixth  street  was  a  short  drive,  but  a  radical  change  of  scene.  In  the  latter 
place  cleanliness  is  supreme,  and  the  ladies,  after  being  presented  to  Mr.  Silas 
Croft,  president  of  the  Board  of  Charities,  who  then  became  their  host, 
inspected  all  the  details. 

Blackwell's  Island  was  next  visited.  At  the  landing  General  O'Beirne  joined 
his  colleague,  Mr.  Croft,  and  later  Superintendent  Dunphy  piloted  the  party 


70 


through  the  workhouse,  the  almshouse  and  the  hospital.  Luncheon  was 
served  at  4  o'clock. 

After  a  brief  rest,  Mrs.  Trautmann  called  the  members  to  order  and  in  a 
short  speech  congratulated  the  mother  society  on  having  such  flourishing 
children  to  entertain,  and  thanked  the  Commissioners  for  their  hospitality 
and  courtesy.  President  Croft  and  General  O'Beirne  spoke  briefly.  They 
were  followed  by  Warden  Dunphy. 

Mrs.  Croly,  on  behalf  of  all  women's  clubs,  thanked  both  the  Commissioners 
and  the  Association.  She  made  a  good  point  by  the  assertion  that  it  was  a 
privilege  for  women  to  do  such  work,  as  it  broadened  them  and  helped  to 
control  that  sentimentality  of  which  they  had  been  accused.  Mrs.  Scrimgeour, 
of  Brooklyn,  and  Mrs.  Clara  Williams  proposed  a  vote  of  thanks,  and  the  two 
days'  convention  came  to  an  end  with  the  impromptu  singing  of  "  Auld  Lang 
Syne.  " 


GENIE  H.  ROSENFELD, 

Recording  Secretary. 


s 


